Posted by GOLDGIRL/CA on 3/7/12 3:34pm
Msg #414204

Cell phone crackdown comin'

Mobile notaries, beware: Heard the other day that the U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing regulations that would require a car to be stopped and in Park before a cell phone could be used or GPS device programmed.

Yikes! What's this world coming to? If I can't drive, take calls, make calls, text, GPS, eat, drink, take notes, touch up my mascara, powder my nose, file an errant fingernail, floss and brush all at the same time, how will my NSA business survive?!?!

Seriously, you think we're missing jobs now because of hyperventilating SSs who won't wait 5 seconds for us to call back, just think ......

Reply by MW/VA on 3/7/12 3:43pm
Msg #414205

There must be a lot of pressure from the providers, though. The law that would have made it illegal to text while driving in VA was shot down. Can you imagine????? WTH are they thinking? :-(

Reply by Jillian Hinrichs on 3/7/12 3:54pm
Msg #414206

In Illinois you can only use your cell with a hands free device, or if you are pulled over onto side of road.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 3/7/12 5:50pm
Msg #414227

Jillian, you are incorrect. Please do not post unless you

know the laws of another state. In IL, it is legal to drive and use a cell phone UNLESS you have a CDL. If you are a CDL driver, you must be pulled over to the side of the road at a complete stop. No One can use a cell phone if you are driving in a construction or school zone. There are also restrictions on drivers 18 and younger. The 2 links below outline the law. There are currently NO laws pertaining to me as an individual driver without a CDL. I may talk, but not text.

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/pdf_publications/dsd_a132.pdf

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/pdf_publications/dsd_a112.pdf

Reply by CopperheadVA on 3/7/12 8:20pm
Msg #414248

Marilynn, I thought that passed???

I thought texting was illegal now in VA - it didn't pass? Yet they pass the notarization by video cam bill... Oy vey!

Reply by rengel/CA on 3/7/12 4:26pm
Msg #414216

In California...

you can get a ticket for texting while stopped at a red light. You are legall still "driving".

My .02

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 3/7/12 5:48pm
Msg #414225

Re: In California...

I pulled into a gas station the other day to answer a text message. I was stopped, off the road but still running. There were two CHP cars nearby and I didn't think anything of it. But I got a knock on the window and an officer said that because I was "standing" it was illegal... that I had to turn the engine off and park, not just pull off the road. He said it was a just a friendly reminder because I was obviously trying to do the right thing, but CA LEOs are really getting nit picky about these things now.

I know three different people who have been ticketed for texting while stopped... two at a red light and one at a railroad crossing...during a very long train.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 3/8/12 1:31am
Msg #414275

Re: In California...

Thanks for the heads up, Marian! I record my mileage from location to location in the calendar section of my BB - and the odometer on my car is an electronic display that doesn't show without the key turned on. I'm going to have to be verrrrry careful about that or come up with a different system. Maybe that will be the thing that pushes me over the edge to go back to a paper Franklin Planner - which I miss!

Reply by Bob_Chicago on 3/7/12 4:30pm
Msg #414217

The city of Evanston, Illinois, (large suburb on North

border or Chicago) is reportedly about to pass a ban on any cell phone use while
driving.
Not sure how they would enforce it, though.
"Officer, I was just talking to myself. You would also if you had to do my job"

Reply by rengel/CA on 3/7/12 4:33pm
Msg #414218

Very easy to enforce

The will pull your cell phone records.

Reply by MikeC/TX on 3/7/12 4:57pm
Msg #414223

NY has had a hands-free law for years (I think they were the first to enact one, after a county on Long Island enacted a local law banning cell phone use while driving). Texting while driving was banned there a couple of years ago, and that was just recently upgraded from a secondary offense (the cop had to stop you for something else before you could be cited) to a primary offense that includes points on the license. It's sad when common sense has to be legislated...

Now that I'm in TX - which, as far as I know, has no such laws - it's very common to see people yakking on the phone while driving, even at the higher highway speeds we have here. Personally, I think even hands-free should not be allowed - you're still going to be distracted.

Reply by jojo_MN on 3/8/12 7:54am
Msg #414286

What about banning passengers in a vehicles??

I agree that cell phone use shouldn't be allowed if you are holding the phone; however, I don't see how the hands free should be banned. If they are, then it should be illegal to have passengers in the car also unless none of them talk to the driver. In my opinion, a driver is more apt to look at a passenger either to the right or looking in the rear view mirror to talk to the ones in the back. When you are talking to someone on a hands-free cell phone, the only direction you are looking is at the road or mirrors when needed.

JMHO

Reply by Linda_in_MI on 3/7/12 8:21pm
Msg #414249

My in-car GPS already requires I be stopped

before I enter an address. I can look up general things such as shopping centers, local attractions, transportation things, restaurants, stores, and other things, but if I try to enter a specific address it won't let me. Nothing, nada, zilch. Have to pull off to the side of the road, find a parking lot, or work quickly at a stop light.

Reply by bagger on 3/8/12 8:28am
Msg #414293

Re: My in-car GPS already requires I be stopped

If it's a Garmin that setting can be changed.

Reply by NJDiva on 3/8/12 12:04pm
Msg #414315

lol...I was thinking the same thing bagger! n/m