Laws Concerning Driving While Using Hand Held Devices

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Ancient Mariner
Cellphone bans begins Oct. 26

Tickets for handheld devices Feb. 1
September 30, 2009
The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Ontario’s ban on the use of cellphones, BlackBerrys and other hand-held electronic devices by drivers will take effect Oct. 26.

Motorists can expect a three-month education period when the ban first comes into effect, which means police will show some leniency.

But police will begin issuing tickets next Feb. 1.

Ontario drivers could be fined up to $500 if they’re caught using their hand-held cellphones or BlackBerrys to talk, e-mail or send text messages while behind the wheel.

The government has said hands-free devices aren’t covered by the legislation, but they are not recommended for use while driving.

Ontario is the fourth province to enact such a ban, following Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Manitoba has introduced similar legislation.

Drivers are also banned from using portable video games and DVD players but they are allowed to use their cellphones for 911 calls.

Global positioning systems are allowed, as long as they’re properly secured to the dashboard.

There are no demerit points attached to the Ontario law, unlike in other provinces.

However, Ontario motorists using a banned cellphone could also be charged under careless driving laws and face fines, six demerit points, a driver’s licence suspension and even jail time.

My thoughts:

I think this law is an excellent idea.  It has been proven that use of cellphones while driving distract the driver and pose a risk to all drivers. 

If you are like me, when driving behind a particularly slow car, you pull up next to the driver and take a peek into the other car before pulling ahead of them in traffic.  I cannot resist.  I need to know who is driving 80 km/h on a 100 km/h stretch of the highway.  More often then not, the driver is talking on a cellphone. 

Can the members please comment here on the following:
1.  What are laws like in your country concerning this issue?
2.  What is your opinion on the issue?
 
This law has been in place in Nova Scotia for about 2 years now.  It hasn't made too much of a difference in the slightest - still lots of people who talk on their phone when driving.  How many people actually have been fined, I have no sweet clue, but it doesn't seem to have decreased who I see on their phone.

Still, letting people know it is not acceptable is a very good thing.  I have never personally seen the need to be on the phone when driving.  Of course, I also do not own a cell phone.  I hate the fucking things.
 
The UK has had the use of mobiles whilst driving banned for a few years now but you still see them out and about. Negotiating a roundabout with one hand on their phone, texting whilst driving, etc. It still happens.
 
It's a bit like drink/driving. Generations ago, it was not illegal and people did it. Then the law came in decades ago to outlaw it - yet we still have drivers drunk behind a wheel.

One thing that was talked about here, which I do not necessarily agree with, was to put a heavy custodial sentence on someone that causes a death by using a mobile. The problem here is that it may not be the fact that the action of the driver using the phone was the cause of the accident. So if the jail sentence has to be given, then perhaps it should be given for using the phone in the first place - before any accident occurs. I could get in my car tomorrow and cause a death whilst not using the phone - I would get away with points on my licence and that's it. But if I just so happened to be on my phone at the time, then I would be jailed.

But then again, what about smoking, eating, etc. while driving? All are still as distracting.
 
If the law was that the accident was determined to be your fault, then I think there should be a stiffer penalty for it.
 
Albie said:
It's a bit like drink/driving. Generations ago, it was not illegal and people did it. Then the law came in decades ago to outlaw it - yet we still have drivers drunk behind a wheel.

One thing that was talked about here, which I do not necessarily agree with, was to put a heavy custodial sentence on someone that causes a death by using a mobile. The problem here is that it may not be the fact that the action of the driver using the phone was the cause of the accident. So if the jail sentence has to be given, then perhaps it should be given for using the phone in the first place - before any accident occurs. I could get in my car tomorrow and cause a death whilst not using the phone - I would get away with points on my licence and that's it. But if I just so happened to be on my phone at the time, then I would be jailed.

But then again, what about smoking, eating, etc. while driving? All are still as distracting.
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I agree with you there Albie.  If there is already a law for vehicular homicide and a law for cellphone use while driving, why create another law?

Recently, a law has been passed here where a cop can charge you with street racing if you're driving above 150 km/h.  Jail time is possible. 

The law is stupid because there is already a stiff penalty for speeding.  This new "street racing" law covers nothing new and is the only law that could potentially land you in jail for a traffic infraction!  Just about a month ago, a woman was charged with such a law.  She sped up to pass a slow moving 18-wheeler on a two-way, two-lane highway.  Her speed hit 152 km/h and a cop stopped her and gave her the street racing ticket.  Luckily a certain lawyer's group fought on her behalf, for free, because they realize the law is irrational.  As far as I understand, the charges for street racing were dismissed.
 
Using the phone while driving for any purpose has been banned inthe UK for some time and I agree with Albie that you still do see people using them but I believe it is quickly becoming an act that is frowned upon by other drivers and the public. It boils my blood when I see someone using their phone whilst blasting down the motorway at over 80mph. And they are usually driving an expensive car - so if they can afford a BMW they should be able to afford a bluetooth ear piece for feck's sake.

The police are actually quite good at handing out tickets which result in fines and penalty points and so they should. Before the ban I was educated the hard way. I was texting a friend one night while driving home and crashed into a parked car. Luckily no-one was hurt but the car could just have easily been a child crossing the street. I would never have forgiven myself for hurting someone through my own stupidity and negligence.

For me using a hand held device while driving means you are not giving the road your full attention and is just as stupid as getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol. If you need to make that call so urgently then find a place to pull up safely, put your handbrake on and make the call. Otherwise wait till you get to where you are going before using the phone.
 
As a Californian, I can confirm that the law has epically failed. Instead of ticketing people for talking on their phones while driving, we have cops actually parked at my school waiting for a kid to jaywalk. The jaywalker gets the ticket, and the car that stops in the middle of the road to let the kid jaywalk (so that the kid won't get hit) gets a ticket too. So stupid. I understand ticketing the jaywalker, but the driver's just trying not to kill someone/run someone over. Bah.
 
Moonchild33 said:
As a Californian, I can confirm that the law has epically failed. Instead of ticketing people for talking on their phones while driving, we have cops actually parked at my school waiting for a kid to jaywalk. The jaywalker gets the ticket, and the car that stops in the middle of the road to let the kid jaywalk (so that the kid won't get hit) gets a ticket too. So stupid. I understand ticketing the jaywalker, but the driver's just trying not to kill someone/run someone over. Bah.
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WTF?!
 
Hey Genghis, do you also have to return your Toyota to the dealer for a check-up? I guess you've heard about the gas-pedal problem?
 
Moonchild33 said:
As a Californian, I can confirm that the law has epically failed. Instead of ticketing people for talking on their phones while driving, we have cops actually parked at my school waiting for a kid to jaywalk. The jaywalker gets the ticket, and the car that stops in the middle of the road to let the kid jaywalk (so that the kid won't get hit) gets a ticket too. So stupid. I understand ticketing the jaywalker, but the driver's just trying not to kill someone/run someone over. Bah.
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While true that the car is stopping as to not harm the jaywalker the driver is also at fault, because just because s/he saw the jaywalker, it doesn't mean the guy behind them did and might try to go around hitting the jaywalker anyway. In other words, they get ticketed for enabling the jaywalker.

Instead of stopping for jaywalkers, HONK so they run out of the way. After going to defensive driving school 6 times these things sorta stick with you...
 
Jaywalking? What the hell is that? I actually had to look it up.

This nutty sign

Jaywalking.jpg


looks as obvious as realizing that drinking gasoline isn't a healthy thing to do. Duh!


Violation of pedestrian traffic regulations and laws? In my country and in most of the rest of the world such regulations do not exist and jaywalking is an unknown concept.

You just cross a "busy" street where you safely ought to do that, using marked crossings like these:

Zebrapad.jpg


And that's it. No need for a term like "jaywalker" or "jaywalking".

Probably, crossing the street as a pedestrian isn't as dangerous as in the places where rules for jaywalking are enforced.
 
Come on Foro, are you really trying to tell us that no kid in The Netherlands ever crosses the street when there's no traffic light or markings?

It's illegal by definition, in the US like anywhere else, but that doesn't mean nobody does it.
 
Perun said:
Come on Foro, are you really trying to tell us that no kid in The Netherlands ever crosses the street when there's no traffic light or markings?
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No.

Perun said:
It's illegal by definition, in the US like anywhere else
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But car is not king in the whole world. It depends on the road and on the country. There are different rules per country (just looked it up). Those marked crossings are enough to realize that those silly boards (see previous post) are not necessary in the places where you and I live, aren't they?

Check this out:
Source

What every Brit should know about jaywalking
In the UK no one would bat an eyelid. In Atlanta, you could be wrestled to the ground.

It is a cautionary tale for any traveller - distinguished historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto tried to cross the road while in Atlanta for the conference of the American Historical Association, only to find himself in handcuffs and surrounded by armed police.

_42437679_arrest203ap.jpg


"I come from a country where you can cross the road where you like," said the visiting professor of global environmental history at Queen Mary College, University of London. "It hadn't occurred to me that I wasn't allowed to cross the road between the two main conference venues."

The bespectacled professor says he didn't realise the "rather intrusive young man" shouting that he shouldn't cross there was a policeman. "I thanked him for his advice and went on."

The officer asked for identification. The professor asked for his, after which Officer Leonpacher told him he was under arrest and, the professor claims, kicked his legs from under him, pinned him to the ground and confiscated his box of peppermints.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto then spent eight hours in the cells before the charges were dropped. He told the Times that his colleagues now regard him as "as a combination of Rambo, because it took five cops to pin me to the ground, and Perry Mason, because my eloquence before a judge obtained my immediate release".

Not every jaywalking Brit abroad will be similarly blessed, nor enjoy the intervention of the city mayor.

Culture clash

Just because you can do something in the UK doesn't mean it's OK in another country. Jaywalking is an offence in most urban areas in the United States - although enforcement varies between states - and Canada, and in places such as Singapore, Spain, Poland, Slovenia and Australia.

In Brisbane, police have begun doling out fines after complaints from motorists involved in near-misses with jaywalkers. In Beijing and Shanghai, city officials have clamped down on jaywalkers in an attempt to improve public behaviour ahead of the 2008 Olympics and 2010 World Expo respectively.

But there is no such offence in the UK, where it is considered a personal responsibility to cross the road safely (although London mayor Ken Livingstone last summer proposed making jaywalking illegal). The Highway Code recommends that all pedestrians abide by the Green Cross Code: "Where there is a crossing nearby, use it. Otherwise choose a place where you can see clearly in all directions."

In Germany and the Netherlands, the onus is more on the motorist. Not stopping for pedestrians on crossings is an offence, and a driver can be issued with a ticket even if they are waiting on the kerb (again, the expectation is that pedestrians should cross safely).

Some road safety campaigners claim that with traffic heavier, where light phases are timed to allow as many vehicles through an intersection as possible, pedestrians are increasingly taking risks in order to cross the road.

At least Prof Fernandez-Armesto can relax in the knowledge that it's not just outsiders who commit such heinous offences as crossing the road where they please.

Back in 1915, the Atlanta Constitution reported that the practice of "jay walking" was all too commonplace.

"People cross the streets any and everywhere, without regard to traffic, darting in front of fast-moving motor vehicles, dodging horses and street cars, and even braving ambulances and fire apparatus with no satisfaction except the consciousness that 'they did it,' and then having plenty of time to turn and contemplate the danger they have escaped."

Having been carted off in a "filthy, foetid paddy wagon" as the professor described it, that last observation was one denied to him.

---
JAYWALKING
# Pedestrian who crosses without regard to traffic regulations, who steps out anywhere other than a specified crossing, without a green light
# Word originated in the US in early 20th Century
# 'Jay' was slang for a newcomer unfamiliar with city ways

Perun said:
but that doesn't mean nobody does it.
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Never said that.
 
Genghis Khan said:
Can the members please comment here on the following:
1.  What are laws like in your country concerning this issue?
2.  What is your opinion on the issue?
Click to expand...

1. Everywhere in Europe but its application varies from country to country
2. I'm 100% in favour for laws concerning driving to become more strict.

I almost had me killed 10 days ago, because my driver answered (with his left hand) to a cell call while driving...
 
Is this another one of those "the whole world is smart but the US is stupid" things?
 
Foro, of course people are SUPPOSED to cross at crosswalks, but it doesn't mean they do. And I can guarantee you that happens even in the Netherlands. Just because you don't see it, it does not mean it does not happen. I have Never seen anybody get arrested, hassled or fined for Jaywalking, but I'm sure it happens. Most cops where I live let it slide as a minor offense.

Other things cops let slide:
doing 10mph over the speed limit. It is clearly a violation, speeding is speeding whether a little or a lot, they won't stop or fine you unless it is 15 in most areas (residential and school areas are where they really crack down.)

Illegal Lane change. people who do not use their blinkers to change lanes or change lanes right before or right after an intersection when they are supposed to do it 100 feet before or after.

People riding in the bed of a pick-up. in "rural areas" they turn a blind eye to it.

Etc.
Etc.
Etc.

When I took the driving test in mexico i read half the book and threw it away because people violated 90% of the laws on a daily, constant basis and cops didn't do squat.

In the states they crack down on more of them, but it amazes me what shitty drivers americans are. By and large better than Mexican drivers, but they are idiots in other respects.
 
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