San Antonio Passes Hands-free Law, Enacted On 1/1

So that law against murdering people doesn't apply to me cause I never got caught ?

You don't drive and text .. ever. Just like you don't drink and drive, or have arguments while driving. Anything that takes your eyes off the road is incredibly bad because it takes a fraction of a second for a situation to change such that your impaired reaction speed just killed someone.

This isn't a political issue it's a safety one. Do not text and drive.

There's no "law" or "legal" section of the website, that's the only reason why I put it in P&R.

Common sense would dictate this, unfortunately some people are severely lacking in this department.

This is a decent law since being side tracked with crap while driving can effect other people. Seat belt laws though that ***is 100% BS! Let the morons not buckle their seat belts! More street pizza for everyone!

They are no longer law-abiding citizens so your argument is invalid.


over exaggerate much chicken little?

what if i leave early and forget to turn off my alarm and that annoying *** goes off while i'm driving down the road? Can I look down and turn it off? Or someone calls and the ringtone is distracting? Would hate to break the law and try to turn it off.

Reading the article, it seems to really focus on texting/calling/gaming while driving. Going to be hard to prove some of that in court if you push the issue. I have terrible service at home and at some point between leaving my house and work, I get all my missed calls/texts and all of my pending texts finally get sent at once. Time stamps always reflect the time that the phone sends/receives it...not the time that it was typed.

I once had a cop roll up beside me and flash his lights as a warning because I had my phone out. I was holding it in such a way that I could keep both hands on the steering wheel and look at it without taking my eyes completely off the road. I suppose I could get one of those dashboard holders or something, but I was using it as a GPS and without a holder it was the only safe method I had to see the screen. Supposedly the law here is that you can't be seen manipulating the phone with your hand, so having a cop roll up and assume I was doing something wrong with it was a tad annoying, but I understand why the law is there.

I just wonder if the cops here are going to enforce this or not.

Probably for the first 3 or so months, then just forget about it and only add it on when they see somebody speeding and texting at the same time.

Oh XIAH, thinking I was serious about driving 70 on the freeway with a phone out. What do I look like, someone who wants to become ground beef all over the pavement? These laws make sense because some people have none.

I'll be sure if I take anyone out, it'll be in a high speed chase.

And now what you came here for:

I would be more concerned about *how* they can enforce it. Unless it is at night, having the visual acuity to resolve someone holding a phone at any distance, unless you are driving alongeside or behidn them.
Of course, at which point, unless they have video (and it is on), becomes one person's word against an officers. So the question then becomes if contesting a ticket means that your activity can be retreived and used as evidence. Text and phone logs could be used, but what about data (e.g. IM or VOIP)?

I understand that with the use of Stingrays and the NSA relevations, it is a bit about worrying about the barn door being open after the horses are gone, but still.

Well, that's the only real way they would pull them over to be honest.

I believe this law was to stem the usage of cell phone use while driving more than anything. You can't believe how many people will stop using their cell phones now that this law is enacted.

Naysayers will complain and say that this law doesn't do anything, but the fact that the law exists may have stopped a lot more deaths and accidents than anything else.

Naw, most people don't really contest a traffic ticket. Some do, and it might get a little ugly at times, but most people in Texas owns up to their mistakes.

Like a lot of traffic infractions they just roll up give you a ticket and most people just accept it.

I don't give two shits if someone can multitask and another cannot. When in operation of anything that can easily kill you, or others around you, because of a tiny mistake, multitasking is a moot point. I find it humorous and infuriating that some idiots seem to downplay the value of a life when compared to some electronic device.

If you're paranoid enough to believe the police, as a whole, will just use this as a law to pull you over for no reason, get a car cam installed.

For ***'s sake, if you need to use your phone, pull over to the side of the road. There's no valid *** excuse anyone can make about using your phone while driving, unless you are calling emergency services.

I've almost been in numerous accidents because of people phoning & driving. My mother was involved in a car accident due to the other driver texting and not paying enough attention to stop at a 4-way.

I'm confused. You agree with a sensible law?

And, yeah, I'm amazed every time I hear this law getting passed in a new state or municipality -- because they should have been on the books years ago. Ohio passed a no-texting law that only applies to minors (it acts like a seatbelt enhancement for adults) and that stipulation boggles my mind. As someone who is out on the streets all the time on two wheels, it's the HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE moms and braindead college girls (and even an occasional male) who are dicking with their phones at all times. I can't even remember the last time I had to notice a minor driving (because I only notice who is driving when they're doing so dangerously).

Also, yeah, as you pointed out, alcohol is less of an impairment than a cell phone is. Even just talking on the thing is dangerous enough. I've lost track of how many times I need to scream at someone giving me a lift because they are incapable of looking 200 yards ahead at the traffic rapidly slowing/coming to a halt, but if I'm talking to you on the phone, I'll never see to warn you. Texting or anything else is insane. I don't even like crossing the street on foot while reading my phone.

You make it sound like I'm always against sensible laws >.>

The sensible part comes down to the way people think. Like this law is actually sensible in that it protects others on the road from stupid drivers, unlike the seat belt law that has no effect on anyone other than the person not wearing it.

Why the hell would you even consider making that publicly known though? That's got to be the most dumb *** thing I've ever read out of your fingers. "I've been driving and texting at the same time since I was 16"

And you're proud of that? Really? I'm glad the others *** it up for everyone else, now you no longer run the risk of pushing your luck and getting yourself whacked.

I can think of some cases where that's not true. Regardless, I agree with the point that more emphasis should be placed on laws that protect people from the bad decisions of others as opposed to protecting people from self-harm.

Exactly, I personally know of several times a seat belt took the life of the person wearing it, but they also save lives. Unlike texting while driving.

That whole because it never happened to me argument and I can do it...worst ever.

One of the worst experiences I ever had at work, was being on the phone with a customer who started to get upset and agitated over how high her bill was, I asked her to be calm and that it might be best for her to call back when she had time to look at the details. But Noooo then suddenly you hear this loud crash and she goes from pissed to "oh my god oh my god I hit him, I think he's dead he's not moving"

She hit a guy on a motorcycle because she wasn't paying attention and was too caught up on the phone.

On a funny note, in old mobile phone instruction manuals, there was normally a section about driving and the phone:

"If the phone is ringing and is somewhere like the backseat, DO NOT attempt to answer it will driving. This could cause a fatal accident or death."

If they had to put something that obvious in an instruction manual do you really think humanity should be doing this?

I have a single phrase pamphlet on how to live:

"If it seems like a good idea at the time, don't *** do it - look at something that would be a good idea in the past, present, and future"

In other words, don't go vying for the Darwin Awards.

Not using a seatbelt improves the gene pool.

Corpus Christi, which is 2 hours away from San Antonio (where I live) Has had this law for about a year now. It's about a $500 fine if you're caught. Here, they also tow away your car if you do not have car insurance, and will take you to jail until someone picks you up. Your car will stay impounded with daily fees until you can prove you have insurance. Most of Texas if I recall is trying to transition into these new laws.

The police here set up traps under the overpass U-Turns, so when you are turning, you have to stop in a line as 5-10 cops check everyone's drivers license, registration, and insurance. There are about 3 tow trucks in a parking lot nearby to take you away :) how wonderful LOL Not. :/

That may be a Corpus Christi regulation, but state statue states that not having insurance is a class C misdemeanor. Which is no jail time until the 4th class C misdemeanor (which gets bumped up to class B automatically).

Also, texting and driving is also a class C misdemeanor by the looks of it (fine up to $500 only).

While no real studies are available, a quick search on the Internet shows that it's not entirely just an opinion that Chanti expressed, but something widely recognize among specialists of many kinds.
Source (one in many) :

http://www.cfp.ca/content/59/7/723.full

"... A simulator study found that cell phone use while driving might be as or more dangerous than driving with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit. Having a cell phone conversation slows driver reaction time by 18%, while alcohol (at a concentration in the blood of 0.08 weight/volume) slows reaction time by 12%. Another study suggests that texting while driving might be more dangerous than driving under the influence of cannabis; texting slows driver reactions by 35% while cannabis slows reactions by 21%. Unfortunately, while most drivers would not even consider driving under the influence of alcohol or cannabis, many use their cell phones while driving despite knowing the risks(...)"

Reading the whole article puts the study in it's whole perspective, and gives us a lot to think about honestly.

... food for thoughts.

And for those who thinks multitasking is natural to some and not to others, well I'm sorry but it's not something that the human brain is able to: you'll always be focused on one thing at the time, meaning you'll be less attentive to the other:

" The measurements revealed that for all types of tasks, subjects lost time when they had to switch from one task to another, and time costs increased with the complexity of the tasks, so it took significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks. Time costs also were greater when subjects switched to tasks that were relatively unfamiliar. They got "up to speed" faster when they switched to tasks they knew better, an observation that may lead to interfaces designed to help overcome people's innate cognitive limitations."

source : American Psychological Association [press release] . Is multitasking more efficient? Shifting gears costs time, especially when shifting to less familiar tasks. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association; 2001. Available from: http://www.apa.org/releases/multitasking.html. Accessed 2015 Jan. 2nd.

And, finally, for those who have no clue about what cognitive abilities are, read this. It should improve your understanding of how the brain works a lot :

http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2006/12/18/what-are-cognitive-abilities/

I personnally found out that turning off my phone while entering my car improved my chance of not being involve in a car accident while texting by 100%....

Hey, guess who pays for the jackass who is on disability for the rest of his life because he didn't wear a seatbelt and drove himself straight into a tree? The economy doesn't benefit from having a shelved worker, much less one who will invariably end up requiring some form of social assistance until the day he dies.

You're really terrible at thinking.

Simpler rebuttal: people can't multi-task. Literally no one. The efficiency loss is spectacular. You may need to do multiple things at once, because the baby isn't going to magically stop crying while you're on the phone with the bank, but it has been consistently shown that attempting to do two tasks at once results in more time spent in total and poorer results overall than doing tasks separately.

I don't even like changing the track when I'm driving or biking because I've literally observed my visual cortex going into sleep mode for the ~3 seconds required as I non-visually locate the button necessary.

They will take you to jail because they won't take you home but they won't actually book you. You just have to wait there til you sort out a ride lol