Recommended Legislation May Restrict Mobile Use of..

[appalachianscanner]

~~I posted this over at qrz.com

Recommended Legislation May Restrict Mobile Use of..

Cell Phones, Electronic Devices... where do you draw the line, what’s exempt and what’s not. Now is the time to be prepared to engage your local state legislation with opinions, as a request for the driver cell phone ban has been sent to all 50 states. Many groups are playing the blame game, and right now legislation will hear any additional in car activities as fuel to their fire and additions to any possible bills. Amateurs, we must fight for broad preemption. The effects of this bill on Skywarn Spotters and ARES/RACES could be most devastating.

Lets not forgot about handhelds and the non amateur group, Many Amateurs in Rental Cars, Company Vehicles, or simply don’t have the option to mount a permanent radio... As for Non Hams... Even though they may use scanners and CBs, etc...These potential hams support our industry too, and are the next generation of Ham Radio Operators. Interpretation by Law Enforcement would be interesting indeed... "That’s not exempt sir, I’m going to write you a fine" 'Yes that’s a Scanner I’m listening to the Skywarn net' "Looks like you were holding it there a second ago" this could go on and on and on..

Lets fight to keep out the what –ifs, get Preemption for Amateur Radio Related Equipment, and carefully keep the open spaces in our favor.
Remember, Cell Phone Advocates are blaming other activities, we have already been mentioned, CB’s unfortunately have seen the worst Press.

Google below if you didn’t see the news already
"Safety council urges ban on cell phone use while driving"

We need Monitoring Advocates to stand up against this too!

 

[kb2vxa]

"Amateurs, we must fight for broad preemption."

Nope, broad it's not and in fact in New Jersey it's Amateur Radio specific. Fight we did not, it was a simple matter of bringing it to our legislators' attention when the bill was first published. By the time it was passed into law our amendment was in place all safe and secure.

Oh I can well imagine the hornet's nest you stirred up AGAIN (yours isn't the first thread) and with that bunch of dipwads I guarantee they'll squabble furiously, make the usual dumb remarks, personal attacks fly like bullets from a Phalanx gun and that poor horse as always will end up something it's own mother wouldn't recognize.

"What hath God wrought?"
Samuel F. B. Morse

 

[gmclam]

My solution

When they passed the law last year to require hand-free cell phones while driving in California, I laughed. Why? Because I know that it is what the mind of the driver is doing, not necessarily their hands. I expected many people to simply ignore the law, which they did. But what shocked me (well that might be an over-statement) was the number of people I then saw TEXTING, using both hands on their cells, while driving. So now as the 1/1/9 texting while driving is forbidden too. Now people are holding their hands-free phones (you can't make this stuff up).

I agree with this new report that shows any cell phone conversations while driving interfere with a person's ability to drive. Funny that they don't mention the level of distraction when drivers are conversing with passengers in their autos, or especially trying to parent (small) children while driving.

Clearly to me, any new laws that restrict using 'electronic devices' while driving is NOT the solution. As one person already stated, where do you draw the line? My solution is to allow use of all these things .. BUT if the driver commits an offense while doing so, the fine is TRIPLED. So if you can talk on your cell, or use an electronic device, and it does not impair your driving, you're good. But if you speed, run a red light or whathaveyou while on a cell phone, then the fine is tripled.

This concept would also put this type of bad driving more into the 'radar' of LE because right now they are generally not enforcing the new laws here. If all of a sudden a speeding ticket is tripled, it would seem to me that they will be more on the lookout for those type of drivers.

 

[davidmc36]

My solution is to allow use of all these things .. BUT if the driver commits an offense while doing so, the fine is TRIPLED. So if you can talk on your cell, or use an electronic device, and it does not impair your driving, you're good. But if you speed, run a red light or whathaveyou while on a cell phone, then the fine is tripled.

A tripled fine for running a stop sign would be cold comfort for the mother of a baby that gets creamed in their stroller by some jackass who was looking at his cell phone and dialing a number.

I have used a blutooth headset religously since they were available on phones and it doesn't seem to be a perfect solution because the conversation takes your brain right out of the car. It is like you are gone wherever the person is that you are talking to. And I don't even need to touch my phone to dial with voice commands. It is still distracting.

Best policy is you should do NOTHING that takes your hands, eyes, ears, or brain away from the task at hand, piloting a two ton steel and glass wrecking ball anlong a corridor not twice its width at speeds of 60 or more mph.

 

[kd7rto]

The way we need to be hindering lawmakers from enacting these inane laws is to demand that they make them all or nothing. After all, operation of devices while in motion is either safe, or it is not. To say that it is unsafe for me to talk on my cell, but it is perfectly safe for an officer to be typing license numbers into his MDT, is absurd.

All or nothing is what we need to demand, with the hope that they respond with nothing.

Our roads are reasonably safe. The number of collisions, injuries, and deaths on American roads every year are well within what our society should consider acceptable losses, for the freedoms that automobiles grant us all. If these elected persons can't find a real problem to deal with, I say give them the day off on the public's dime. I'd rather have them out on the golf course, then heaping more laws and restrictions on a people already overburdened with too many laws and restrictions already.

 

[unitcharlie]

The problem is political correctness and stup[idity on the part of some do-good lawmaker who thinks thge solution is to ban everything because some people can't breathe and drink water at the same time...... how many first responders have had or caused wrecks while talking on their radios while driving, how many hHams have caused wrecks.... how many people who shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car have caused wrecks because they do stupid stufff that grabs the attention of the ill-informed media and the equally out-of-touch law makers?

 

[Raven95150]

The last thing we need is more pointless laws that can't be effectively enforced in the first place. There are already laws that cover this, It's called "Inattentive Driving." You can already be ticketed if you are doing ANYTHING that takes your attention off of driving. Banning cell phone use will not make any difference anyway. Most of these people would find something else to take their attention off of driving if they weren't on the phone.

 

[W6KRU]

The last thing we need is more pointless laws that can't be effectively enforced in the first place. There are already laws that cover this, It's called "Inattentive Driving." You can already be ticketed if you are doing ANYTHING that takes your attention off of driving. Banning cell phone use will not make any difference anyway. Most of these people would find something else to take their attention off of driving if they weren't on the phone.

I used to commute down a section of freeway that moved quite slowly at times. You start to remember people after awhile. One guy I saw several times, read the paper. He folded it into a neat 1/4 page and flipped it around a lot. One lady had a rather large makeup mirror propped in her steering wheel. As I sat there eating my danish, while balancing a carton of milk on my knee that wasn't holding the steering wheel, while checking my pager, I would tell my ham buddies on the repeater how dangerous those people were. :lol:

 

[davidmc36]

Metropolitan Blvd

OK here is a true story too. Not a word of a lie, driving on the elevated freeway in Montreal PQ, that is posted for 70km/h, it is barely wide enough to make two decent lanes yet they have three crammed into in, and the traffic goes more like 70mph. I was in the center lane in my Toyota 4WD pick-up so I had a good view, going with traffic at 60 plus mph. This doll in a Porsche, with great gams I might add, roars past me in the left lane. She had a cigarette in her lips, coffee in one hand, and a Butane curling iron in the other, steering with one knee, curling her hair in the rearview. I swear I did not make this up just to top Raven's, I actually saw it.

 

[whacker]

In my opinion, Americans are already such poorly skilled and poorly disciplined drivers in the first place. Just look at how people drive in the winter, and I'm referring mainly to being overly cautious. Driving is just an extension of their already bad habits. It is too easy to get a license here, compared to places like the UK and Germany.

So combine that with how transported people let themselves get when they're yakking on a phone, and you've got an environment that other people in authority think is just right for more legislation.

 

[Eng74]

In my opinion, Americans are already such poorly skilled and poorly disciplined drivers in the first place. Just look at how people drive in the winter, and I'm referring mainly to being overly cautious. Driving is just an extension of their already bad habits. It is too easy to get a license here, compared to places like the UK and Germany.

So combine that with how transported people let themselves get when they're yakking on a phone, and you've got an environment that other people in authority think is just right for more legislation.

Try a little rain in Los Angeles. The foot still goes to the floor and in and out of traffic. You think it was a perfect day. I think I see more people on cell's now that you have to use hands free now and they are not.

 

[kb2vxa]

"It is too easy to get a license here, compared to places like the UK and Germany."

It's too easy to get registration plates in the UK, most are phony ordered over the internet and made in a print shop. What say you.

 

[appalachianscanner]

Sample Letter

Feel free to use the below form to contact your congressman, this should cover most states with minor modification.

Dear ____<Insert Congressman>____,

I am writing you to voice my strong opposition to _____<insert bill>_______.
These recently introduced bill(s) limit the use of cellular phones and “mobile telecommunications devices”. My concern is that there is no exemption for Amateur Radio operators and their associated equipment.

Amateur Radio operators have contributed valuable contributions to society including valuable emergency communications, this most recently spotlighted in the total collapse of New Orleans’s communications networks during and after hurricane Katrina. Amateur Radio operators provided exemplary communications support for the city. Many of the operators volunteered, traveling from states across the nation. It would be impracticable to regulate the use of their mobile equipment in any state.

The federal government via the FCC licenses amateur Radio operators alongside state, county, and local emergency service responders as well as state agencies such as the department of transportation and other state services. Allowing any of these bill(s) to pass would cause these users to be in violation of state law as well. I therefore ask you to ensure that mobile radio users are exempted from these bill(s) if allowed to pass.

It is important to remember that the hobby and volunteer service of any amateur radio operator relies heavily on the ability to use communications equipment while mobile in a vehicle. Almost all communications gear in this industry is designed for mobile use, including handheld radios. Equipment used stationary in buildings is usually mobile equipment augmented by power supplies. Furthermore if Amateur Radio Operators are restricted to hands-free devices the practical application of using communications gear while mobile would be hindered and possibly made dangerous. Mobile radio operators have used radio devices since the early day of radio without any problems or any laws to restrict their usage. Restricting Amateur Radio to hands-free devices is not an option.

With the broad implications and to prevent confusion with neighboring states, I ask you to have the above bill(s) modified to allow unrestricted amateur radio use by the driver of a vehicle while the vehicle is in motion. Furthermore, for the sake of the industry and related services I ask that the restrictions outlined in the above bill(s) apply to paid subscriber cellular telephone services only, completely exempting all other communications.

For the mentioned bill(s) if modifications cannot be made I ask you to vote against these bill(s). I understand the importance of highway safety, however the vague nature of these bill(s) jeopardizes Amateur Radio.

Sincerely,