Ontario bans hand-held devices

[Kmvreter]

It's about time.
They are pushing this in the news as the deadline gets closer.

http://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2009/09/ban-on-hand-held-devices-starts-in-october.html

I'm seeing way too many kids in the last year or so weaving around while texting and driving. Add that to all the distracted talkers. What can possibly be so important to talk about compared to the pre-cell days?

How many other provinces and states are enacting similar laws?

 

[Merlin]

It's about time.
They are pushing this in the news as the deadline gets closer.

http://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2009/09/ban-on-hand-held-devices-starts-in-october.html

I'm seeing way too many kids in the last year or so weaving around while texting and driving. Add that to all the distracted talkers. What can possibly be so important to talk about compared to the pre-cell days?

How many other provinces and states are enacting similar laws?

they enacted a similar bill in Hawaii, then had to add in all sorts of provisions for emergency personnel, then the Ham radio operators complained, so they had to include mobile two-way radios ("if the police can use their two-way radios with mikes, why can't we"), then they had to include handie-talkies since they are also two-way radios, etc...

now it allows for cell phone use, as long as bluetooth or other hands-free devices are used (i.e., they cannot hold the phone while they drive).

so businesspeople, lawyers, doctors, commercial drivers, etc.. complained that not being able to use a cell phone in the car would drastically impact their productivity, so exceptions were made for these people - cell phone use w/o hands-free is okay, if it's for business communications.

after all is said and done, you end up with a basically unenforcable law, since you cannot tell if the person on the phone is using it for business or not.

a police officer must observe them in the act of texting, using an iPod, or on the phone to cite them. if they are not caught, it never happened (even if they cause an accident and witnesses said they were on the phone, they cannot get cited for it).

months later, police just stopped enforcing it - they drive past cars with inattentive drivers yapping on the phone all the time now, since they know that the drivers can get out of the ticket by saying they were on the phone for business purposes in court.

 

[Scoobs]

Emergency personnel are already exempted from the Ontario law, as are people who were using it to call 911, and those will be the only exemptions. Under the Ontario law you can be fined for even holding onto a cell phone while driving, even if it is not turned on. They don't have to see you using it, they just have to see you holding it. They are giving people a 3 month "grace period" before the law is actually enforced, and trust me it will be enforced, especially by the OPP. I know someone who works in the Commissioner's Office in Orillia and the word coming down from the top is that the OPP will be following a zero tolerance policy once the grace period is over. The present Commissioner has zero tolerance for bad drivers etc.; he recently pulled over a speeder himself while he was off duty. Most Commissioners would have probably just called it in to have another unit get the driver, but not him.

http://www.simcoe.com/article/131410

The OPP is notorious for following the law to the letter. Last week-end a transport driver got pulled over by the OPP and ticketed. His offence? Smoking in the workplace. Yes a truck qualifies as the "workplace" for a truck driver, and there is a ban on workplace smoking in Ontario.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/10/08/truckers-furious-after-driver-fined-for-smoking-in-cab-his-workplace-after-all.aspx

 

[ToyTech99]

I have mixed feelings about these types of laws. Sure, people texting while driving is just complete stupidity. But then again even talking on the phone causes as least some level of distraction for drivers and doesn't allow them to keep 100% focused on their driving. That's why I'm not so sure hands-free bluetooth devices are really of any true benefit.

I know that when I'm using mine, I often don't even realize what the person on the other end said because I was in a situation where my attention needed to be on the road, not on a telephone conversation. I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about...it's almost like when you hear your favorite song come on the radio and before you know it the song is over. You didn't even hear hear the song because you had to concentrate on your driving.

Then again, people are still free to use CB radios, right? I know they are not popular with most drivers, but they've been popular with truckers as long as I can remember. And I graduated high school right before the cellphone craze, so I actually had one in my cars and so did a few of my friends. Nobody ever complained that we were a menace on the road because we were talking on the CB radio...

 

[Scoobs]

My understanding is that the Ontario law also applies to CB radios, but that they will get a three year grace period to convert over to hands free technology.

 

[Merlin]

My understanding is that the Ontario law also applies to CB radios, but that they will get a three year grace period to convert over to hands free technology.

ah, over here the ham radio operators testified in droves, and got ham radios, cb radios, two-way radios for business (like police/fire/civil defense) radios exempted.

kinda happy about that, because my wife and i have cb radios in our cars/trucks, along with some of our friends. much easier to talk on the radio than have to dial a phone, hold on to it, etc... (this was before bluetooth). when you don't need it, you can just leave the mike on the seat, etc... and only grab it when you need it to talk.