On 17 Jan 2005 15:17:08 -0800, jim rozen wrote:
In article , Dave Hinz says...

...The thing which should be punished is causing a problem while
driving,...

Cops are not that smart, nor do they have enough time to do this.

It's a pretty easy thing to test, isn't it? Either they're
missing seeing signals, or they're not. Either they're following
too closeley, or they're not. Either they're causing an accident,
or they're not. Either they're making unsafe lane changes, or they're
not. These are all existing laws that define and punish behavior
that causes problems while driving.

Passing a law that says 'cops should ticket poor drivers' is
a non-starter. Becuase it does not specify what is to be
ticketable.

See above.

Is the headlight out, or not?
Is the speed limit being broken, or not?
Did the car stop at the stop sign, or not?
Does the car have a license plate or not?

Has the driver performed an unsafe act, or not? Having a
cellphone isn't an unsafe act, but doing the above things are.
Use a law similar to the seatbelt one if you want - if you do
something above _and_ are using a cellphone at the time,
add on if you want. But there is no reason to punish someone
usign a cellphone who isn't doing any of the above type of things;
they're not causing you or anyone else any problem.

All yes or no questions. Easy for a police officer to
determine, no real judgement needed.

You underestimate cops, but yeah, the above covers it.

If the cops around here gave out tickets based on jerkwad
driving, they'd run out of ticket pads. Mind you that
wouldn't be a bad thing. But 95% of those tickets
would be tossed out in court. A BIG waste of time overall.

So better to punish me, doing nothing wrong, for having a
conversation with someone and _not_ driving like a "jerkwad"?
The mind boggles at the thought process that is needed to get
that sort of a conclusion.

Basically I am agreeing with your thesis in principle.
But it's way too far idealistic to ever work. So in
ny the realization is that most folks driving like jerkwads
are also yakking on the phone.

If you can quantify "driving like jerkwads", which I think we both
have, and you can make those behaviors illegal (which I think they
are), then punishing a safe driver with a cellphone is just another
example of a stupid law punishing the wrong people. It's exactly
the same thinking that brings us laws that disarm honest people
so they can't defend themselves against armed criminals.

Dave Hinz