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RICHMOND
A Senate committee has endorsed legislation that would prohibit text-messaging while driving in Virginia.
The Transportation Committee voted Thursday to send Del. John Cosgrove's bill to the Senate floor. It would prohibit sending or reading text-messages while driving. Violators could be fined $20 for a first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses.
Police would be allowed to ticket violators only if they are stopped for another offense.
Cosgrove, a Republican from Chesapeake, said the bill addresses "a dangerous and irresponsible practice" that contributes to traffic accidents.
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Enforcement?
Absent a confession (unlikely) how will a police officer prove that a driver was texting? Simply pushing buttons can be explained as making a phone call or searching the phone's address book. Nobody would believe that a policeman could look from ten feet away and see the driver's screen that clearly.
A court order to obtain cell phone records is far too much for a policeman to accomplish simply for a twenty dollar ticket. Besides, it merely says what time the provider's clock said that a text was sent. Can't prove that it is the exact time that the policeman saw the driver with it.
Policemen will not write tickets for this law. This is a toothless "feel good" law that will in no way impact the safety of the drivers of this Commonwealth
How on earth are they going to enforce this?
If you get caught, just plead not guilty and seek dismissal. There is no way for the state/city to prove this offense. What a waste of time.
No brainer
No texting while driving, duhhhh!
hang up and drive
Unless you're calling 9-1-1, it's not that important. Ditto for texting. This is a step in the right direction. Yes, this goes for eating, putting on makeup, etc as well
Silly
"Cosgrove, a Republican from Chesapeake, said the bill addresses "a dangerous and irresponsible practice"
The only dangerous and irresponsible practice is these elected officials seem to think this is what they were elected for. When will richmond produce something beneficial to Virginia? Droopy drawers. Truck Nuts. Is this the best they can come up with?
“No , officer, I wasn’t
“No , officer, I wasn’t texting anyone, I was calling my girlfriend.” This “texting only” version is so lame and pathetic, probably a result of the wireless phone lobbyists. ALL cell phone use while driving is “dangerous and irresponsible” and a major driver distraction.
What about vehicles like the
What about vehicles like the Ford's that have the Nav unit that does text to speech and speech to text? I thought one of the features was being able to say out loud the text message to send. This is technically text messaging, so will this trigger a fine as well? How do you know if someone is looking at the number or reading a text message?
What a weak bill!!
Why even bother? This has no teeth. If you're dumb, and irresponsible enough to talk or text while driving you should be treated no different than a drunk driver. It should be a 6 month loss of license and a $1500 fine. If you took idiots who tailgate and cell phone users off the accident statistics in VA, I bet it would drop by 75.%
Waste
What a waste, debating and passing something that you have virtually no way of enforcing.