New law in New York.

Actually new penalties. 10 years ago New York passed a hands free law, no cell phone while driving unless it's a hands free device. Getting caught was a $50 - $100 fine.

Now it's two points on your license automatic, plus the fine.

Now you know....

It used to be only a secondary offense as well, did that change too?

Another example of how that big stinky city ruins things for us good ol' boys upstate. If NYC was part of Joisey I guarantee there would be no ban here. Not saying distracted driving isn't bad, btw, just saying cell phone bans aren't the way to stop it.

Cell phone bans are the only way to stop it. If it wasn't for that, you'd have many more idiots than you do now yammering on their phones instead of driving.

hands free changes nothing. It's been proven that the distraction of the conversation is the problem not holding the phone.

I'm curious how this would be applied if I'm using my phone as an MP3 player. Despite it being a touch screen only interface, I know where the buttons lie on the screen and can change songs (on shuffle anyway), without taking my eyes off the road. At that point it's no different than taking my hand off the wheel to use the OEM stereo. Would I get in trouble for that? What if I'm using my phone as a GPS device? I've never heard of anyone getting ticketed for looking at their mapquest printout before GPS devices became so common place. From what I've heard, cops in my state, MI, hate the cell phone law because it is the most difficult to enforce, because it only applies to talking on a cell phone. As pitbull pointed out, it is the distraction of the convo that causes the problem. But what I find funny is how people get so into their convos while driving. I'm not one to take my eyes off the road and look at the person I'm talking to, if they are riding in the car with me. If I'm having a conversation in my car, in person, or via headset, or holy E36 M3, even with holding my phone to my head, the conversation is my secondary objective while driving is the first. I never give the conversation my full attention, so I simply find it odd that just because X amount of people can't walk and chew gum, or talk and drive, that we should punish everyone.

And let's face it, yes, distractions make driving more challenging, BUT some people can multitask better than others, and writing laws based on the least common denominators of society isn't really fair to everyone else.

Thoughts?

Here's how stupid this law is. Hold the phone to your ear = ticket. Hold the phone in front of your face on speaker = no ticket.

pitbull113 wrote: hands free changes nothing. It's been proven that the distraction of the conversation is the problem not holding the phone.

That's what I was talking about. If the distraction moves from a cell phone to a hands free, its still a distraction. Telling people its not (by way of making it legal in comparison to a held phone) is worse.

Jamesc2123 wrote:

pitbull113 wrote: hands free changes nothing. It's been proven that the distraction of the conversation is the problem not holding the phone.

That's what I was talking about. If the distraction moves from a cell phone to a hands free, its still a distraction. Telling people its not (by way of making it legal in comparison to a held phone) is worse.

The government will always prefer to put up a facade of usefullness, than to actually travel the more difficult road of doing something that benefits society, e.g. post 9/11 TSA.

Knee-jerk reactions to new problems never work.

Zib, I just read over the laws in my state of NY, and the wording simply applies to "using a portable handheld device while driving". So, if you just reach down for the next song and light up the inside of your car with your ipod's back light, that's going to be enough if a cop sees it. And, since I checked and it is now a primary offense in NY, illuminated cabins are going to be a big way for cops to tell.

Heh. I used to work in Ithaca, NY. I actually quit my job and moved back to my home state of MI because of no other reason than I felt the cops in that state were a bit too aggressive. I always laugh to myself when I think of all the years of income tax, and support to local businesses I would have given, being that I was strongly considering settling down there. But no, they wanted more.

If I still lived in NY and got pulled over for an "illuminated cabin", I would surely take it to court. FWIW, can anyone name a phone that doesn't light up when an incoming call is received, even when bluetooth is activated? Again I point out, that MI cops hate these cell phone laws, because they are impossible to enforce once they go to court.

Also I have a tendency to flip my MP3 player, or cellphone around so the screen faces the floor when driving at night, but regardless of that, I still find this incredibly stupid.

Hey I grew up and live in Ithaca. Where'd you work?

Borg Warner. It was a co-op position for school to be fair. But I would have been down to keep working there after graduation.

pigeon wrote: Here's how stupid this law is. Hold the phone to your ear = ticket. Hold the phone in front of your face on speaker = no ticket.

No, it's in your hand.

I bet a lot of folks are going to get busted for less than an ounce of weed because the officer "saw an elumination" in the cabin. It is all about probable cause when states are broke and need to beef up the revenue stream. If this was about public safety or distractions they would certainly ban small children from the cabin first.

Half the people can't drive when they are paying attention let alone with distractions and that includes cell phones (hands free or otherwise), reading a GPS, eating food, putting on make up, kids in the back seat and so and so on etc. The street is a dangerous place. I feel much safer on the track.

Yet those same cops can operate a computer while driving along, searching for criminal activity, keeping a schedule, monitoring the two way and answering their own personal cell.

Wonder why that is hard to prosecute

So if it's the conversation, then shouldn't it should be illegal for the driver to converse with anyone in the car too? I've seen plenty of boneheaded 'distracted driving', long before cellphones were ever invented. I call bullE36 M3.

erohslc wrote: So if it's the *conversation*, then shouldn't it should be *illegal* for the driver to converse with anyone in the car too? I've seen plenty of boneheaded 'distracted driving', long before cellphones were ever invented.

That is kinda what I was thinking about the argument against hands-free.

erohslc wrote: So if it's the *conversation*, then shouldn't it should be *illegal* for the driver to converse with anyone in the car too? I've seen plenty of boneheaded 'distracted driving', long before cellphones were ever invented. I call bullE36 M3.

They should be blindfolded and earplugged to avoid any distraction.

Pinball wizard style? (you know where to put the cork! da-da-dah-da-da)

In reply to captainzib:

That is the first time I have ever heard the IPD refered to as "aggressive".

Aside from beligeant drunks trying to fight them... I dont miss working on the Commons

neon4891 wrote: In reply to captainzib: That is the first time I have ever heard the IPD refered to as "aggressive". Aside from beligeant drunks trying to fight them... I dont miss working on the Commons

It wasn't the IPD, it was always State Police.

I was never worried bout these guys.

captainzib wrote:

neon4891 wrote: In reply to captainzib: That is the first time I have ever heard the IPD refered to as "aggressive". Aside from beligeant drunks trying to fight them... I dont miss working on the Commons

It wasn't the IPD, it was always State Police. I was never worried bout these guys.

Ahh, the IPD bug, you have won 1000 internets! But yeah, the troopers...

Jamesc2123 wrote: If NYC was part of Joisey I guarantee there would be no ban here.

Umm... NJ has pretty much the same law in place. From what I've heard, it went into affect Jan 1. A step up from the fine-only offense in affect during the last few years.

What I meant is that the cell phone ban in NY is mostly aimed at the massive congestion and dangerous highways of the NYC area, not the rural and sparse upstate region. Lots of legislation in NY is made with consideration to The City, and often doesn't tend to make sense for the rest of us. Obviously every state has urban and rural areas, but I would venture a guess that New York has the most extreme difference in the country.