January 11, 2013
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Laws
I’ve been reading up on state laws regarding cell phone usage while driving (my own state recently having passed a ban on texting while driving), and I’m a little annoyed.
It strikes me that a number of states do not curb genuinely dangerous behavior while prohibiting (at least on the face of things) less dangerous behavior.
Pennsylvania, for example, prohibits texting (and emailing) while driving, tout court. It makes no distinction between voice-operated devices and the kind that require the use of your hands and eyes.
Now, I know that there is some evidence that even hands-and-eyes-free devices are a bad idea while driving, but it strikes me that laws might reasonably distinguish between the kind of texting here and the kind enabled by voice-operated devices.
On the other hand, the PA law does not prohibit any of the other highly dangerous things one might do with a smart phone, like surfing, playing games, or entering coordinates into a map program.
This is bad. And maybe dumb.
I’m trying to think how one could word such a law to avoid these two pitfalls. Any suggestions?
