Texting-While-Driving Illegal in Georgia as of July 1st
Decatur Metro | June 4, 2010 | 2:01 pmSonny shocks the metro and beyond. From 11alive…
Stunning lawmakers and observers alike, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed both texting-while-driving bills passed by the state legislature this session.
Effective July 1, texting and driving will be banned for drivers of all ages.
Additionally, all cell-phone use while driving will be illegal for motorists 18 and younger.
And P.S., it looks like I was wrong when I said 11alive had Senate Bill 360 incorrect earlier this week. Though the bill originally only banned texting-while-driving for those under 18, it was amended to include all drivers.
must notta been enough graft for sonny to veto
wle
Woo Hoo! Great news! And he signed the seatbelts in trucks thing too!
Sonny done good!
I don’t give a rats behind if you wear YOUR seatbelt (or motorcycle helmet) – I care very much if you hit me head-on because you’re texting.
Those are two very different laws.
Oh my! Bless your heart!
They’re both safety related. And I like celebrating things that protect lots of folks. But don’t let that stop you from focusing on yourself!
It’s not about me. It’s about you and everyone else’s right to do stupid things as long as they don’t impact others.
Oh my word! You’re being a tad ridiculous! Just how is it I’ve become one of the idiotic drivers in your path? I’ve never sent a *#%@! text message in my life!
What about just wanting the best for everybody? The ME! ME! ME! mentality really irks!
Do you find any irony at all in that your accusations of selfishness are directed at the person who was advocating for your right to decide for yourself whether to wear a seatbelt or not?
I didn’t think DM usually let the ad hominens fly, but you followed up a “bless your heart” with a “you’re being ridiculous”.
Maybe you misunderstood my position.
1) I think the ban on texting is good. Study after study has shown that cell phone usage while driving is dangerous to both the driver and those around him.
2) I think seat belt and helmet laws are stupid. If one chooses not to wear a seatbelt, it has zero impact on you, me, or anyone other than that individual. You can wish for all the good choices and good outcomes you want, but it’s wrong for me to impose my idea of “good” on you just as it is wrong (you might even say selfish) of you to impose your idea of “good” on me. FWIW, I always wear a seatbelt, I’d just like to be able to celebrate out freedom to choose.
There’s nothing selfish about me trying to preserve your freedom to make decisions like an adult. On the contrary, it take a big, ol’ heap of hubris for you to decide that you know what’s best for me, and take away my freedom to choose because you and the other smart folks really have my interests at heart.
It’s not the “me, me, me” that’s the problem. It’s “we, we, we” that I take issue with.
My cheering about the texting law & the truck seatbelt law– and Sonny for signing them– didn’t even crack the door for all this! Next time, how about just making a stand alone comment? It’s very odd to have all the “yous” directed at me when you don’t know what I think on any of this!
[ Exception: You do recognize that I have a “we,we,we” approach to life. I sincerely appreciate you noticing it. I try real hard. Sometimes it’s tough. ]
It does not have zero impact on me. It causes you to use the medical system and you affect my taxes, medical insurance rates, or both, and you lose time from work, which impacts productivity and may affect me in many ways, and your accident affects my car insurance rates.
I don’t see how you can separate two actions (seat belts and texting), that can produce similar results.
Airbag designs are mandated to protect unbelted passengers but seat belt laws mandate seat belt usage. The result is that passengers who obey the seat belt law now suffer more injury than the unbelted “scoflaws” in an accident.
Trucks were exempted when their use as family passenger vehicles was rare. Now it’s the norm so truck safety requirements are inadequate for the new usage.
Most vehicular deaths inside the car are caused by object trauma to the head. Helmet laws would be most effective as a public safety policy if automobile drivers were forced to wear motoring helmets instead of seat belts. Imagine Sonny signing that one!
Cyclist safety is greatly improved when their appearance as a traffic object becomes commonplace and expected to drivers. Mandatory cycling helmet laws reduce cycling popularity without the benefit of real accident protection, actually making cycling more hazardous.
Unfortunately, safety regulations aren’t imposed by scientists studying the latest stats and technologies. Rather by politicians combining technical knowledge from the last decade and opinion polls from the last minute. Unless the bodycount is obvious and in our face like texting while driving is, then such regulations are going to be peicemeal, watered down and unenforced.
If you have a wreck and if the other person is not wearing a seatbelt or wearing their helmet, chances are very much increased of serious injuries or death. And if the wreck is your fault, then you are facing vehicular homicide charges.
awesome.
Would’ve liked to see a full ban on cell phone use while driving since it’s equivalent to drinking four cocktails, but something’s better than nothing.
I guess Sonny figured out vetoing wasn’t going to get him anything and signing wasn’t going to cost him anything. No brainer.
My thoughts exactly. Or at “least” only permit use of hands free options, such as bluetooth units.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve almost been hit by some idiot swinging round a corner using one hand to hold their phone. And yes, this includes in Decatur, and often the culprit is a mother taking kids to/from school, or wherever.
i’ve seen a school bus driver on highland ave. driving while holding a cell phone in the crook of her neck. no kids were on the bus at the time, but still!
Report him/her ! That is against regulations whether or not there are kids on the bus.
Thanks for the heads up, DM. I will make sure to text while driving as much as possible this month, before the prohibition.
– sent from my iPhone, on S. Candler at 45 mph
Let’s ask Reed Thodeson if that was funny.
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/05/20/decatur-resident-dog-hit-by-car-in-crosswalk/http://www.decaturmetro.com/2009/05/20/decatur-resident-dog-hit-by-car-in-crosswalk/
Just to clear up any confusion – I do not own a purple pickup truck with custom chrome bumpers. But I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn’t love that to be my ride.
As far as what’s funny – have you seen the Farmstead thread? We got some crazy in this town.
Dude, we got a whole lot of crazy going on around here.
Why anyone would feel the need to engage in irrresponsible behavior while driving is beyond me– much less to actually brag about it. Not funny.
That was tasteless.
Jeez people, lighten up!
About 230 Americans were killed by innattentive, drunk and speeding drivers commiting the very traffic crimes in Tee Russ’ sophmoric remark since he made it two days ago. As a hit and run victim I find those comments and your patronization a tad offensive. Sorry, but there’s nothing here to “lighten up” about.
Then you MUST find ALL comments offensive.
I’m pretty sure Tee did not point toward you, a hit and run victim, and direct his comments toward your pain.
We all think we’re special, but humor is humor–I thought it was very funny– and offensive humor is–we’ve been through this before–some of the funniest. Carlin, Bruce, Hicks, Black, Pryor…
Jesus people, Walrus is totally correct–lighten up; if you don’t like the comment, fine, move on, but above all, “lighten up”.
[oh my god! can you believe what he posted on the blog?! how offensive can you get? I bet he thinks he funny, doesn’t he know people get hit by cars?!!]
[not to mention how many chickens are needlessly maimed each year in their quest for the other side…]
Look, Gibbetts– I don’t see you (or Walrus, for that matter) holding back when somebody says something you don’t like, so if some of us found what TeeRuss said tasteless & unfunny, we get to say so. Gallows humor, like anything else, depends on one’s POV. You can disagree with someone else’s take on it, but you don’t get to tell someone else they don’t have the right to comment.
¿So, now Cuba, we are on a perspective see-saw.
Tee’s comment–if we look at all the comments on this blog–is pretty tame; except for the implied humor derived from automobile accidents, it has too many elements–too many Decatur elements that render it as pure satire.
“- sent from my iPhone, on S. Candler at 45 mph”
[and this takes the post well beyond the sophomoric.]
No see-saw, Gibbetts– just that whatever one’s perspective, it’s not cool to tell someone they need to shut it & move on just because their opinion is different than yours. You ought to “know” me well enough from this board that I engage in (and appreciate) sophomoric humor on a regular basis, but like anyone else, there are some things I find unfunny & tasteless. Just like you, I’m gonna say so if something really bothers me. Verstehen-sie? ‘Sta bien.
You’ve got it all wrong, Gibbetts. I want people to text while driving, and kill as many animals and children as possible in the process. As long as they do it before July 1. After that, it’ll be illegal, and not cool.
If I were trying to be funny I’d do a pun, or smash some watermelons with a sledgehammer.
Wow.
– sent from my iPhone. Only two mailboxes and one labradoodle were harmed in the texting of this post.
as a bicycle commuter, this makes me happy. but, now i just hope the cops will enforce it. given the current state of driving in the atlanta metro area, i have my doubts. the cops don’t enforce the existing laws: i see at least 2 red lights run each day on my commute–and i mean the light has been red for several seconds, not yellow then just turned red. yesterday, i actually saw a sherrif’s car run a red light…and no, it didn’t have it’s lights on.
@Josh: Appreciate the recognition by someone that good ideas don’t necessarily make good laws. Wish that the government would do less legislating on behalf of the beliefs of what some people think is “best” (think Prohibition, abortion, sodomy, and blue laws), and a better job of protecting rights and property. It’s a short road from a seatbelt/helmet requirement to mandatory….take your pick (religion, diet, hair style, etc.)
Seems some of the posters have not progressed beyond the concrete to the realm of abstract thought.
Isn’t it a wonder how some commenters just muddle through life with nothing but ordinary common sense to guide them? Feel better knowing that if we all progressed to the “realm,” then the abstract thinkers wouldn’t be so darned special!
I know this is concrete thinking but I think the connection between requiring states to have seat belt laws if they want certain kinds of federal transportation dollars and mandatory beehives is pretty darn abstract.
Whoops, this was supposed to go under the last Libertarian posting. My fingers did not operate concretely enough.