Florida State won’t promote new texting law

[Motofool]

"TALLAHASSEE -- Starting Oct. 1, texting while driving will be illegal in Florida, but absent state funding to promote the law, efforts to get the public up to speed with the changes could be spotty.

Digital message boards along the state’s highways will light up with the message: “Don’t Text and Drive. It’s the Law,” on Sept. 19 and Oct. 1 and 15, but otherwise don’t expect a major Florida safety campaign.

The reason? Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $1 million put in the budget in part to help promote the ban.

For Russell Hurd, whose daughter Heather was killed in a texting-related accident on her way to meet with a Walt Disney World wedding planner in Orlando in 2008, the lack of a public safety campaign is one more lapse by the state.

“To pass the law as weak as it is and not back it up with continuing education is just meaningless,” said Hurd, who has been instrumental in pushing for texting laws in his state of Maryland, which will make all use of handheld phones illegal for drivers next month.

Florida will become the 41st state to prohibit texting while driving. But unlike the majority of those states, the law will be a secondary offense. That means an officer will first have to witness another offense, like swerving or running a stop sign, to ticket the texter. Another roadblock: It’s OK to text if you’re stopped at a red light or if you have a talk-to-text device like the iPhone’s Siri.

The penalties are $30 plus court costs for a first offense and $60 for a second offense.

Some traffic safety experts have criticized the law as too weak and too difficult to enforce, but punishing drivers isn’t necessarily the main purpose of the texting law, proponents say.

“Really an important part of this is educating the public,” said Florida Highway Patrol Col. David Brierton. He stressed that “if you text and drive three things occur: You take your eyes off the road, you take your mind off of driving, and you take your hands off the wheel. And that creates a hazard.”

Rep. Doug Holder, R-Venice, proposed the educational campaign and worked on getting a texting bill passed for five years. He thought the money lawmakers budgeted “was a good way of educating the public because texting was such an important bill and it took so long to get passed,” he said.

“I can’t tell you I’m not disappointed,” he said. “But I understand the governor made it very clear he’d be looking very closely at returns on investment.”

Sen. Nancy Detert, also a Venice Republican and a fellow champion of the texting law, said the bill has received so much coverage “that everyone knows it’s passed. The only question I hear from the public is ‘When does it start?’ ”

Others are more critical or the law and the state’s decision not to heavily promote it.

“It’s almost worthless as far as I’m concerned,” said David Teater, senior director of the National Safety Council. “The state is telling kids that you can text as long as you don’t do anything else wrong. The degree of risk involved in driving while texting is similar to drunk driving, speeding and reckless driving — and it’s a secondary offense?”

The state is doing some things. The state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Department of Transportation will join a campaign being led by wireless phone companies to discourage students from texting while driving.

Statistics show that on average, teens send five times as many text messages a day as a typical adult, said Stephanie Smith, director of Public Affairs for AT&T Florida. And teens are “much more influenced by their peers on how to act and what to do.”

FDOT has also adopted the federal program to combat distracted driving for Florida, and with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, is sponsoring “Put It Down Day” Oct. 1 to coincide with the new law.

As for enforcement, the Florida Highway Patrol and other law enforcement organizations said their officers are alerted to all new traffic laws but they haven’t planned any special training to get ready.

Don’t expect any grace periods such as those given to Ohio motorists, who had a six-month education period where police could warn drivers but not issue tickets.

Miami-Dade County School Board Chair Perla Tabares Hantman, a longtime proponent of a texting ban, said that while some wanted a stronger law, it’s a step in the right direction. “In October, there will be pledge drives, rallies, events — children will be made aware of the law,” she said.

Matthew Schroeder, Broward County curriculum supervisor for physical education and driver’s education, said the texting law is “100 percent” helpful in making teens aware of the dangers.

“It’s not just the teacher telling them, it’s the law.”"

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/1...#storylink=cpy

[Falcor]

So basically nothing will change? Oh Florida, how stupid you are

[JohnnyBravo]

Good law, weak delivery texting and driving is deadly, you get a bigger ticket for 1mph over the speed limit

[NevadaWolf]

IMHO,

While I don't have an issue with laws forbidding texting or talking on a cell, I *do* have an issue with people focusing only on those two as dangerous behaviors.

When Nevada was pushing to get its law passed, several reports came out that highlighted how distracted driving was dangerous - and cited examples of changing the radio/cd/music player, applying makeup or grooming, reading newspapers/documents, eating, and talking with other passengers (oddly one report didn't mention texting once).

Personally I find the whole campaign pointless unless it addresses distracted driving. To me, it seems no different than saying "Driving while drunk is dangerous, so beer is illegal."

Just my viewpoint.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

.......Just my viewpoint.

IMHO the only situation worse than a driver texting is a driver wearing a blindfold.

The drunk drivers have at least a chance to see two of you before killing you.

It is easier for me to understand addictions to chemical substances than addictions to phones.

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

I know that no law can stop human stupidity from showing off.

[Falcor]

They need to implement a device in cars that disables cell phone use while the car is moving. If you are going 0mph you can use your phone, the second you go past 1mph disabled. If you absolutely need to talk to somebody while driving then the car will allow you if it is Bluetooth enabled or you can just pull over.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

While I don't have an issue with laws forbidding texting or talking on a cell, I *do* have an issue with people focusing only on those two as dangerous behaviors.

Common sense, she has some.

[subxero]

I don't think there can be an argument that txting and driving is dangerous but I can't put talking on the phone in the same category. IMO if you can't talk on a phone and drive at the same time maybe you should not be driving in the first place. With this being said yes, when utter focus is needed a decent driver should be able recognize the need for additional focus to say to person they are talking to on the phone, "Hey, hang on a second" and after situation is handled recognize it is reasonable to talk again.
I have been talking on a hand held phone and operating a manual drive vehicle at the same time for years and have never felt it has had a negative effect on my driving or judgment. But I also feel that I am not an uncoordinated idiot.

txting...bad news, talking on the phone, no worse than the other 300 distractions people have while driving, even less distractive than TV's, GPS, Navi IMO. At least you can talk and it doesn't effect where you look.

IDK

[Falcor]

You could just be lucky too... it's still a distraction. One that isn't intentionally built into your vehicle for you to use while driving. Hands free, Bluetooth, that's all fine. But when you have to hold the phone to talk to somebody you are making it that much harder to get two hands on the wheel quickly if you ever need to. Let's not forget that the DMV would prefer you to use 2 hands to begin with at all times.

[subxero]

it's a manual, more often than not I don't have more than one hand on the wheel anyway unless it is highway driving and I can just cruise one gear.

Whether there is any truth to it or not but a lot of people argue it is the conversation that is truly the distraction and has little to do with 2 hands on the wheel, if that is the case lets just ban talking to passengers while we are at it.

[Falcor]

Originally Posted by subxero

it's a manual, more often than not I don't have more than one hand on the wheel anyway unless it is highway driving and I can just cruise one gear.

So what do you do if you have to switch gears while talking on the phone? Pinch it between your shoulder and head then reach for the shifter? That's just extra latency that you don't need man.

[subxero]

generally just keep phone in right hand while I shift, or go hands less and shift with my left hand

[Falcor]

Omg lmao. Every time you tell me more about it, it just keeps getting more and more dangerous haha.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by subxero

I don't think there can be an argument that txting and driving is dangerous but I can't put talking on the phone in the same category. IMO if you can't talk on a phone and drive at the same time maybe you should not be driving in the first place.............

According to statistics, texting can be several times more dangerous than talking.

The main problem is the amount of brain circuits and temporary memories subtracted from the driving function just to be used in these distractions, as well as the time that the back and forth switching takes.

Of course, some people (young, smart, natural abilities, etc.) have better computers and skills and are less dangerous than others; however, some drivers cannot effectively control a car having no distraction and yet they do text.

If you have time, please read this:

Perspective of an expert on attention and contacted Daniel Simons, professor in the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois.

[Sinister]

None of this address the real problem. And the problem isn't texting or talking or fiddling with the radio or any type of distracted driving. The problem is that people (especially americans. I am saying this AS an american) suck at driving. Even if you eliminate EVERYTHING that could be labeled a distaction people will NOT pay attention to whats going on around them.


If you want to make things safer, promote better driving as a whole.


Someone who shoots off a text while cruising down the right lane of the highway after scanning ahead, behind and to the side concerns me a hell of a lot less than some jackass who just wings his car across lanes without checking a damn thing besides the end of his hood but doesn't even own a cellphone.


Teach people to treat driving as the #1 priority when they are actually on the road and all these "distracted" problems go away. All the laws and fines are going to do is make people be sneakier about it.

[Falcor]

Sinister, people drive like that all over the world. Just some areas they seem to consolidate more than others.

[subxero]

Originally Posted by Falcor

Omg lmao. Every time you tell me more about it, it just keeps getting more and more dangerous haha.

you should see me drive with my knees when i'm eating a 12" sub from subway on the go.

[subxero]

Originally Posted by Motofool

If you have time, please read this:

Perspective of an expert on attention and contacted Daniel Simons, professor in the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois.

My wording might have been off, but yes Txting and operating a motorvehicle is a terrible combination and it should be stopped. It requires a lot more thought process than simply speaking. But again, I don't like lumping talking on the phone in with txting, they are simply not even on the same playing field. Are people that talk on the phone and drive distracted drivers... yes, I have seen it 1000's of times but I don't think talking on a phone is much worse than the other hundreds of distractions that we deal with everytime we get in a car. Like playing with the radio. You do it when you feel it is a safe time to do so. You don't try and tune your radio when making a left hand yield turn at a busy traffic signal, why? because you know better and you focus on the task at hand. Making a safe turn. Is it unreasonable to expect the same out of someone talking on the phone. Simply put the phone down for 10 seconds until you execute the turn, then pick it back up again. If you can do it with other distractions you can do it when talking on the phone.

Yes I guess this sounds like a lot to ask of the apparently already terribly driving population but it shouldn't be IMO.

[Joshorilla]

Floridians, urgh.

How stupid do you have to be to text and drive? I see nobody doing it for years and as soon as I am in florida on a freeway you see literally ten plus on any given trip, not bothing to hide it, not even with one eye on the road, fully engrossed on their phone.

You just need to add mandatory logging on a car's gps system for say six months, and do the same with phones but for calls and keystrokes, and if somebody is in an accident, cross reference the data to see if the person was distracted.

You can't physically stop people, there may be situations once in a blue moon where you'd need to use a phone and don't have the option to pull over, phone a pharmacy to ask them to stay open five minutes later as you need to pick up your medication? I dunno, but I can't agree on a physical ban.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Joshorilla

You just need to add mandatory logging on a car's gps system for say six months, and do the same with phones but for calls and keystrokes, and if somebody is in an accident, cross reference the data to see if the person was distracted.

hahahahahha never gunna happen. Black boxes on cars and phones, big brother much?

A car will already save enough info in it's systems to be used against me in a court of law, I don't need anymore. Thanks though.

[Sinister]

Originally Posted by Falcor

Sinister, people drive like that all over the world. Just some areas they seem to consolidate more than others.

I don't disagree that there are bad drivers everywhere (russian dashcams, hours of fun). However there are some places where driving is taken MUCH more seriously. Compare the license reqs for someplace like finland or germany to the us and you can see the different attitudes.

[Joshorilla]

Originally Posted by csmith12

hahahahahha never gunna happen. Black boxes on cars and phones, big brother much?

A car will already save enough info in it's systems to be used against me in a court of law, I don't need anymore. Thanks though.

Your government can put a gps tracking unit on your car without letting you know that sends data back to them in real time, i'd prefer non networked logs that expire after a given time to secretly being tracked in real time any day.

A court order to surrender logging data if a person is believed to have been driving and denys having been so leading to the surreder of the data is in my book much better than being a real time blip on some security agency's screen any day.

[Falcor]

Originally Posted by Sinister

...Compare the license reqs for someplace like finland or germany to the us and you can see the different attitudes.

Of course. Most of the UK is the best example I believe for driving standards.

[csmith12]

Sure Josh, there is already enough data on your phone and the car to give you jail time. More is not really needed.

[CC Cowboy]

Florida has other laws that cover this problem:

Self defense and Stand your ground.

If if you feel your life is threaten (by someone trying to kill you by not paying attention and coming at you in a dangerous manner while in a vehicle) you are allowed to use deadly force.

[rojoracing53]

When will you humans realize its not the holding the phone in your hand that's the problem, its the conversation that that's the problem. This hands free bull **** is pathetic you just need to stop doing anything unrelated to driving while driving its that simple end of story. Oh how I wish common sense and political agendas intersected from time to time. Why must doing the right thing always be so an uphill battle.

[Falcor]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

When will you humans...

And what species are you?

[greenmachine]

Originally Posted by Motofool

IMHO the only situation worse than a driver texting is a driver wearing a blindfold.

The drunk drivers have at least a chance to see two of you before killing you.

It is easier for me to understand addictions to chemical substances than addictions to phones.

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

I know that no law can stop human stupidity from showing off.

I don't see how wearing a blindfold would be the only thing worse than texting while driving, I know quite a few people who can text without even glancing at their phone.

Also people who are not as adept at texting glance up as they do it very frequently.

I would think that driving drunk would be vastly more dangerous.

I'd also like to state that I hate people who text while driving, but definitely not nearly as dangerous as a drunk driver on the road.

[rasta]

Personally, I think texting while driving gets a bad rap. I'm not so sure it's the act of texting that make people careless. Rather, I think it's careless people driving carelessly. If a careless person didn't text while driving, they'd find something else more important to focus on. I text all the time while driving, but I still thoroughly scan my mirrors and blind spots before doing any lane changing.

[Reswob]

Originally Posted by rojoracing53

When will you humans realize its not the holding the phone in your hand that's the problem, its the conversation that that's the problem. This hands free bull **** is pathetic you just need to stop doing anything unrelated to driving while driving its that simple end of story. Oh how I wish common sense and political agendas intersected from time to time. Why must doing the right thing always be so an uphill battle.

So I guess you never speak to your passengers or listen to the radio while driving. Must be a boring place inside your car.

[rojoracing53]

Originally Posted by Reswob

So I guess you never speak to your passengers or listen to the radio while driving. Must be a boring place inside your car.

I can't comment on wether or not driving with me is boring or not because it's not something I'm thinking about while driving. I think my driving is like my riding, focused and attentive so yeah if you think riding a motorcycle is boring then yeah my driving is probably boring. @CycleCam303 has driven with me, maybe he can enlighten you on levels of boredom my driving causes.

[CycleCam303]

Driving with rojo is like witnessing a miracle every other 5 minutes. No full sized tundra should be carrying that kind of average speed. Most of the people on this board would be holding him up in the canyons on their ninjettes.

Being focused on driving doesn't equate to silence. If I'm holding a conversation it might mean that I won't respond for a couple of seconds while I string a set of corners together while passing someone and worrying about the weight transfer of the motocross bikes in the back of the truck.

That's the difference. Most people driving are so unaware of everything going on in the moment.If im going to text and drive, I do it at a light or in stopped traffic. Everywhere I drive I see clipping points, open holes in traffic, braking zones. I use the whole road. I even rev match and heel and toe when going to the store. That's thinking about driving.

[parox91]

I would like to add that people who blast music at unreasonable decibels should also fall into this category; it's really distracting to the driver as well as everyone else having to listen to Drake on ****** stock speakers, not to mention really annoying.

I know somebody has to make music for the bitches but goddamn.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by CycleCam303

. Everywhere I drive I see clipping points, open holes in traffic, braking zones. I use the whole road. I even rev match and heel and toe when going to the store. That's thinking about driving.

You sound like me. Dork.