You Can Be Held Liable For Texting Someone That's Driving

So can I hold the Govt liable when I get one of those Amber Alerts on my phone while i am driving?They most of all should know when I am mobile. The alarm those alerts send out are frightening and extremely distracting.
 
kbrickley said:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/30/opinion/randazza-texting-driving/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn ... a clearer explanation of the ruling ... as others have noted you are unlikely to be liable unless the person you are texting says "I'm driving leave me alone for now" and then you continue to send them text messages anyway ... short of that the ruling doesn't change much in the legal landscape ;)
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So you can't be held liable unless they break the law by telling you that they're driving. Oh yeah, I can see how effective this well thought out law is going to be...unless it's supposed to work that way, thereby giving them the possibility of increased revenue by finding both parties guilty since the logs would be all the evidence they'd need. :rolleyes:
It is the corrupt state of NJ after all.
 
teh_chem said:
You guys can create all these scenarios where it's arguably not unsafe to look at or touch your phone, and I probably wouldn't disagree with you. But that's not the point. Most driving laws are to address unsafe conditions, and sadly common sense is bumped out the window when people get distracted, so "you can do this when it's safe" ends up being a very subjective interpretation that it becomes a pain to enforce. So you have to make a universal choice.

I'd rather no one texted while driving than to take the chance that they think they can do it safely and risk being plowed off the road.
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I guess my issue is why bother focusing on one thing (phones) when people are fucking morons to their core anyway, shouldn't we be focusing on the latter? Road deaths have been falling for the past 4 decades (obviously multiple factors have led to that), it's not like they've suddenly risen with the rise in mobile phones. Stupid people do stupid shit and cause accidents, they don't need mobile phones to do it. It just irks me when I see campaigns against mobile phone use in vehicles where the focus isn't on actually on a better understanding of risk management while driving or removing drivers from the road who are incapable of driving safely. Take the mobile phone out of the hands of a dangerous driver and I'm not convinced they magically become anything other than a dangerous driver without a mobile phone.
 
Tudz said:
I guess my issue is why bother focusing on one thing (phones) when people are fucking morons to their core anyway, shouldn't we be focusing on the latter? Road deaths have been falling for the past 4 decades (obviously multiple factors have led to that), it's not like they've suddenly risen with the rise in mobile phones. Stupid people do stupid shit and cause accidents, they don't need mobile phones to do it. It just irks me when I see campaigns against mobile phone use in vehicles where the focus isn't on actually on a better understanding of risk management while driving or removing drivers from the road who are incapable of driving safely. Take the mobile phone out of the hands of a dangerous driver and I'm not convinced they magically become anything other than a dangerous driver without a mobile phone.
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There have been a lot of tests showing when someone is using a phone while driving, their attention is diverted and reaction time is impaired. You're right; who's to say that if you took the cell phone away, that the person wouldn't otherwise be a hazard on the road. But give them a cell phone to use, and studies have shown that having and using/concentrating on the phone yields distracted driving. You don't need a sudden and significant increase in road deaths to show that it's a generally unsafe thing.

But you can't easily enforce proper risk management (and common sense). You can enforce a zero-tolerance law for using your device while driving. Everyone with a drivers license has taken and passed a driving exam. I still wouldn't consider them safe drivers. Doesn't mean they couldn't pass a test...tests don't teach or enforce common sense.
 
teh_chem said:
There have been a lot of tests showing when someone is using a phone while driving, their attention is diverted and reaction time is impaired. You're right; who's to say that if you took the cell phone away, that the person wouldn't otherwise be a hazard on the road. But give them a cell phone to use, and studies have shown that having and using/concentrating on the phone yields distracted driving. You don't need a sudden and significant increase in road deaths to show that it's a generally unsafe thing.

But you can't easily enforce proper risk management (and common sense). You can enforce a zero-tolerance law for using your device while driving. Everyone with a drivers license has taken and passed a driving exam. I still wouldn't consider them safe drivers. Doesn't mean they couldn't pass a test...tests don't teach or enforce common sense.
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There are already dangerous driving laws which aren't really enforced. When you took your drivers test, you probably had a question about safe following distance... yet no one follows anywhere near that distance. If it's dangerous to follow closely, why aren't we enforcing the dangerous driving laws and stopping people from doing it?

It's also been proven that alcohol levels well below the legal limits in most places impair driving ability. Why aren't we dropping our legal blood alcohol levels?

In many (most?) states, you have to give way to pedestrians at intersections and marked crossings... yet time after time as a pedestrian you wait for one, two, three or many more cars to pass before one actually stops. Why aren't we fining these people who don't stop?

That's my point, we aren't promoting better and/or safer driving. People will just end up looking down at their phones to hide them to avoid getting a fine which is even more dangerous. I also think you'll find that it's far less safe if large groups of people start pulling over on the highway to use their phones and then are trying to merge back in to traffic. And then, at least IMO, the sorts of people who don't understand when to not use a mobile phone when driving are the same people who look at their passengers to talk to them while driving or play with their HVAC systems and radios at inopportune times.

I personally would like to see better driver training and testing and ONGOING driver training and testing (not just when you first get your licence) which is focused on these sorts of matters and then better enforcement of a plethora of things which fall under the "dangerous driving" heading. Not just singling out mobile phones with "zomg, I'm making the pledge to not drive and text" and bumper stickers that no one gives a shit about.
 
Tudz said:
There are already dangerous driving laws which aren't really enforced. When you took your drivers test, you probably had a question about safe following distance... yet no one follows anywhere near that distance. If it's dangerous to follow closely, why aren't we enforcing the dangerous driving laws and stopping people from doing it?

It's also been proven that alcohol levels well below the legal limits in most places impair driving ability. Why aren't we dropping our legal blood alcohol levels?

In many (most?) states, you have to give way to pedestrians at intersections and marked crossings... yet time after time as a pedestrian you wait for one, two, three or many more cars to pass before one actually stops. Why aren't we fining these people who don't stop?

That's my point, we aren't promoting better and/or safer driving. People will just end up looking down at their phones to hide them to avoid getting a fine which is even more dangerous. I also think you'll find that it's far less safe if large groups of people start pulling over on the highway to use their phones and then are trying to merge back in to traffic. And then, at least IMO, the sorts of people who don't understand when to not use a mobile phone when driving are the same people who look at their passengers to talk to them while driving or play with their HVAC systems and radios at inopportune times.

I personally would like to see better driver training and testing and ONGOING driver training and testing (not just when you first get your licence) which is focused on these sorts of matters and then better enforcement of a plethora of things which fall under the "dangerous driving" heading. Not just singling out mobile phones with "zomg, I'm making the pledge to not drive and text" and bumper stickers that no one gives a shit about.
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Oh, don't get me wrong--you're preaching to the choir. And on that note, why doesn't everyone who speeds get a speeding ticket (such as with cameras in plenty of other countries)? Why do we have some dumb traffic enforcement where you MIGHT get a ticket if you violate some traffic law.

I wouldn't argue with you on any of those points because I generally agree with them. It still doesn't mean it's safe for anyone to text while driving, and it still doesn't mean that there shouldn't be proper law enforcement of people interacting with their phones while driving (something I see everyday, and I'm sure others do too). Even with better drivers training and ed now, it still doesn't change anything for the people that have already gotten their licenses. I'm not saying that better training/ed now is bad, but regardless, the problem will still persist with current drivers.
 
But why spend so much money on enforcement, when you can just prevent the crime from occurring at virtually no expense and only insignificant inconvenience?

This would be like putting a pile of gold coins on my driveway, and then insist that the police arrest everyone that walks by and steals a coin.

Put the coins in a safe inside and the problem is pretty much solved. Fix the texting issue carrier side, and you won't have to arrest or spend huge sums of money finding and prosecuting these people. If texting and driving were a very rare occurrence, OK fine, it would be unjustified. But cell phone use by motorists (dialing a phone number or punching in an address into your GPS IMO is still punching keys in looking at the device and texting in my book) is so commonplace that few can say they have never done so behind the wheel.

Fix the problem at its root and be done with it.
 
collegeboy69us said:
wow -- the people suing, the judges, the court, every single one of them need to have their ass kicked... HARD.

Want to know why our country is circling the toilet? It's people who think up this kinda crap. Whoever was texting and driving is the one who caused the crash... end of story. Lock them up, kill them, I don't care... but if I text someone and they are stupid enough to respond... suddenly I have the law up my ass acting like I'm guilty of something.

Fuck everyone who had any involvement in this decision.
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Well said. This is exactly how I feel. Is NJ really that bad? Wow...just wow.
 
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