Alright, so let’s break this down.
There is Texting, Calling, GPS, and then crazy Playing Games, and watching Videos on your Hand-Held Devices…
Here are some comments from a new report done by The Star about drivers and what they should be doing while driving their motor vehicle.
“Don’t even think, for example, about making a hand-held cell phone call in a traffic jam or at a red light because hand-held devices can only be used when the driver has “safely” pulled off the road” – Jim Bradley
Alright, fine, if you’re stupid, then don’t, but I am pretty sure that most of us know how long a red light is going to be, especially if it just changed red. You a have a few minutes to dial a number, considering you are Stopped. The only thing to worry about at that time would be the car behind you, who is looking at the accident across the street, or that bird up there, who suddenly rear ends you, how about that? Pretty sure he wasn’t on a cell phone.
“If I want to change stations on the radio … I can do so; that is not prohibited. But if I were holding a hand-held device and did that, I would be in trouble.” A motorist asked if they could skirt the law by taping his iPod to the dashboard, Bradley wasn’t sure.
…..Right….Because the difference between a taped to the dash iPod and the radio is something to be concerned with.
Calls to 911 are exempt….well at least we’re allowed to do that when we drive!
To illustrate his point, he hopped into a driving simulator while making a cell phone call with one hand on the wheel, ended up going the wrong way and crashed into a wall.
So what your saying is that he is one of those people who definitely shouldn’t be using a cell phone while driving. It’s not “Lets make a phone call and ignore the road”. It’s called lifting the phone so you can see the road with your peripheral vision, you know, like how you look in your rear view mirror, check the speed of your vehicle, or the time. I’m sorry, but if i have to check my rear view mirrors how many times a minute…that’s a lot of time I spend not looking at the road.
“We’re happy this bill has opened a dialogue … They’ll think about talking in the car, whether or not it’s hands-free,” said Dr. Suzanne Strasberg, the group’s president-elect.
Yes, because talking to your passenger is distracting…. Or yourself…. We all know it happens…especially when there is that guy in front of us replying to that text he just got.
She wants motorists to think twice about how they handle any distractions behind the wheel, whether it’s drinking coffee, eating, applying makeup or using a hand-held device.
Drinking Coffee, alright, there are cup holders, you drink when you know you can, easily resolved. Eating is a bit trickier
Applying Make-up… Are you dumb… that takes more concentration than driving does….
The government decided to allow hands-free cell calls through headsets or earpieces because the law would be difficult to enforce otherwise – it would be impossible for police to tell if the motorist was talking to a passenger, rehearsing a speech or singing along with the car radio, Bradley said.
Yes, because it would be difficult to tell the difference between what the driver is talking to….because they are the same thing, whether you are on a cell phone, talking to a passenger, or yelling at the kids in the back seat….Wait, you should pull over to yell at those kids, hell, why are we even driving anymore, we can’t do anything behind the wheel, guess the kids are going to have to go in the trunk. Oh right, they have to have the seats now, well then, install some Plexiglas between the kids so they can’t hit each other, and then more between the front and back seats. It kind of sounds like a cop car, but they are exempt from this law anyways, so I guess its ok.
This is what they say is going to be amended in this new law from Wise Law Blog.
The new law amends the Highway Traffic Act to provide:
Hand-held devices prohibited
Wireless communication devices
78.1 (1) No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway while holding or using a hand-held wireless communication device or other prescribed device that is capable of receiving or transmitting telephone communications, electronic data, mail or text messages.
Entertainment devices
(2) No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway while holding or using a hand-held electronic entertainment device or other prescribed device the primary use of which is unrelated to the safe operation of the motor vehicle.
Certain exceptions to this basic rule are also established:
(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), a person may drive a motor vehicle on a highway while using a device described in those subsections in hands-free mode.
Exceptions
(4) Subsection (1) does not apply to,
(a) the driver of an ambulance, fire department vehicle or police department vehicle;
(b) any other prescribed person or class of persons;
(c) a person holding or using a device prescribed for the purpose of this subsection; or
(d) a person engaged in a prescribed activity or in prescribed conditions or circumstances.
Same
(5) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of the use of a device to contact ambulance, police or fire department emergency services.
Same
(6) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply if all of the following conditions are met:
1. The motor vehicle is off the roadway or is lawfully parked on the roadway.
2. The motor vehicle is not in motion.
3. The motor vehicle is not impeding traffic.
So….What it says is that if we are on the Highway we can’t use our hand-held device. That leaves a lot of loopholes if you ask me.
In my opinion, this is fair, but they are going to take this way too far. The minute I get a ticket for sitting at a red light, to call someone while using my Bluetooth headset, I am taking it to court. I would love to know what you do at red lights, so make some comments, what do you do when you are waiting for the light to go green? How do you feel about how far Jim wants to take this new law? Let’s hear it!
