On 17 Jan 2005 12:08:22 -0800, jim rozen wrote:
In article , Dave Hinz says...

...However folks don't get ticketed for
*posessing* a phone. It's a particular combination of
a) driving and b) using it that defines the illegal
act.

Close, but wrong.

Actually, not wrong. Read the NY statute.

Yes, Jim, I understand that the NY statute is stupid. Thank you for
making the point over and over and over. My point, which by now you
must intentionally be missing, is that it's another example of a stupid
law. The thing which should be punished is causing a problem while
driving, not (insert random reasons here including using a cellphone)
but not causing a problem, while driving.]

Use a hand held phone while driving in NY, you
can get a ticket.

And try to buy certain solvents in California, and you can't, because
the lawmakers say they cause cancer. They don't just cause cancer
in California (if at all), that's just a law that a bunch of expert
witnesses convinced a bunch of lawmakers to pass. Doesn't mean it has
any basis in reality.

Unless you're stipulating that by definition, lawmakers are infallable?