Cell phones have been banned for drivers in Kalifornia as of yesterday. The news (propaganda) had stories of KIDS DIEing from their parents talking on the phone while driving.
Freedom?
Yeah right.

http://www.cellular-news.com/car_bans/

Yeah, why bother with all of that pesky freedom crap. Just pass more laws. Criminalize the phone, not the accident. Yeah, you are an idiot if you talk on the phone and crash into someone else but so is that guy on the freeway I saw reading, and the guy texting, and the guy shaving... Do we need a law for all of those or is an accident just an accident?

This is a phenomenon we in Britain are well aware of. It's a stealth tax. It's got no political or safety means, it's just a way to get more money out of the populace.

Until I hear a rational argument that persuades me otherwise, I think 'unsafe driving' should be the crime (or said another way, 'safe driving' the rule), no matter what the cause. The cause doesn't really matter. You could be drunk, high, sleepy, using a cellphone, weaving in and out of traffic - it really doesn't matter.

Why? Because it focuses on behavior based on evidence, not on presumption of guilt based on things that may or may not happen.

Enloopious' method of having the instigator of the accident be the one who is responsible for the damage after the fact makes the most sense, but if we're going to have 'traffic law' what I've said above seems prudent.

We have the same cell phone ban here as well.

I have road rage. I drive through the LA freeway system, one of the worst stretches of road in America, and people do much worse than talk on their phones. I have been seen beating the steering wheel, dashboard, and anyone on the sidewalk I could reach because I was behind some idiot on a cell phone. And I continue to do this, even after the 'cell phone ban' because it hasn't changed anything except the amount of money generated for the elite. Just like a protection racket run by the mob, this generates a lot of money. The only difference is that this 'law' has popular consent.

Studies show that people will give up their freedom easier if they are told something is bad. They should outlaw being tired because that has been shown to slow your judgment more than drinking, drugs, and cellphones combined. Maybe they could make uppers required by law for all of us and since we are all up all the time anyways, we could work 24 hrs a day too. Then we could get out of debt while we're at it. Its a win win situation.

Washington state two states to the North of Kali just got its "cell phone" and "texting" ban with rules enforce this same week.

So I'm wondering what Avagdu thinks?

As far as I'm concerned, I quite agree with most of the sentiments possessed here about driving-by-$ell phone.. Its a secondary offense here, so you have to do some thing else to warrant a ticket.

But with almost getting run over multitudes of times by $ell phoners, do you think I might want it as a major ticketable offense?

It would be $100 to 10hrs of community service. I think that was the rate last time I checked. With inflation it might even be 5 hours per $100. They have to pay an hourly rate and I think it was pretty good. Those hours take forever tho, I would rather pay.

Community service implies and perpetuates the idea of public property so I can't really stand in favor of it.