Driving While Yakking Laws Looking More And More Like 'Help The Gov't Make Money' Laws (original) (raw)

from the funny-how-that-works dept

As mentioned, while I don’t think it’s safe for most people to drive while on a mobile phone, I’m a bit skeptical of laws that explicitly forbid driving while yakking. Very few of them seem actually focused on improving safety on the roads — but they do appear to be a way for state governments to make some extra cash. In California, where the fines were not that big originally, it looks like it’s about to get a lot more expensive to drive while talking with you mobile phone held up to your ear (you can still drive while yakking hands free — despite some studies showing that can be just as dangerous). The politicians involved even admitted that this was more or less the plan all along. Get the law passed by keeping the fines really low, wait a few years, and then jack up the fees. I’m all for making the roads safer, but it’s not clear that this law actually does that.

Filed Under: cell phones, driving, laws