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Administration Considers Federal Ban on Texting While Driving
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he would support legislation to withhold federal funds from states that permit cellphone texting while driving.
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LaHood said he would like to see laws that punish states that allow the practice and also reward those that ban it, The Wall Street Journal reported. Congress is considering bills that would do both.
Providing both penalties and incentives has been effective in getting states to put in place drunken-driving laws, LaHood told the paper.
LaHood has said he favors a national ban on texting while driving but said he needed to study how to enforce it.
The Governors Highway Safety Association supports rewards for bans, but opposes financial penalties for states that allow texting behind the wheel.
"On the one hand you're giving states money to help ... the economy, but then you're potentially taking that away," GHSA spokesman Jonathan Adkins told the Journal. "It really sets the wrong tone on this."
Nineteen states have already enacted bans and 20 more were expected to pass similar laws this year, according to Adkins.
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Christopher Weber
Christopher Weber is a writer and editor in Los Angeles... moreRelated Articles
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Comments (28)
dhartson
6:50PM Jan 18th 2010
JOBS!!!!! JOBS !!!! That's what American's want!!!! This CRAP can wait......!!!
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(6)
(6) 
jrotced02
7:17AM Jan 19th 2010
Are you working? If so what's your complaint? if you're not working, it's because you're lazy, stupid, or both. Which one is it?
RATE THIS COMMENT:
(-1)
(-1) Bogey
6:54PM Jan 18th 2010
Honk if you love Jesus. Text if you would like to meet him! I think passing it is a good idea!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (7)
(7) papam11
7:09PM Jan 18th 2010
I pity the first person who gets me in an accident because of a cell phone. I've had numerous close calls. I wonder if their dental plans covered picking out cell phones from teeth.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (6)
(6) ceking19182
7:20PM Jan 18th 2010
Greetings:
I have always wondered why would any state not want to ban Texting while driving? Common sense should dictate such a decision. Is it such an issue to bring the obvious to the surface in a debate forum. If one has to keep their hands on the steering wheel while driving now, why would a state have to spend time to debate if people should keep their hands on the steering wheel of a car when driving? Is it logical not to keep ones hands on the steering wheel when one is driving a vehicle?. Texting reqiire taht you take your eyeys off the road and fix it on your handset to see whyat you are texting. How in any ones name are you going to do all this texting while keeping your eyes onthe road to drive safely? I guess this is not an easy question.
I have always wondered why would any state not want to ban Texting while driving? Common sense should dictate such a decision. Is it such an issue to bring the obvious to the surface in a debate forum. If one has to keep their hands on the steering wheel while driving now, why would a state have to spend time to debate if people should keep their hands on the steering wheel of a car when driving? Is it logical not to keep ones hands on the steering wheel when one is driving a vehicle?. Texting reqiire taht you take your eyeys off the road and fix it on your handset to see whyat you are texting. How in any ones name are you going to do all this texting while keeping your eyes onthe road to drive safely? I guess this is not an easy question.
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(6) jhtrico1850
7:25PM Jan 18th 2010
Glad they got their priorities straight. Wait, where are the jobs?
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(8) grrywalk
7:30PM Jan 18th 2010
How would that stupid law be enforced?
RATE THIS COMMENT:
(2)
(2) Are you kidding me????
7:46PM Jan 18th 2010
The same way seat belts and speeding!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-2)
(-2) jrotced02
7:24AM Jan 19th 2010
A police officer observing a driver distracted by texting can enforce this law. Additionally, a post accident investigation including a check of cellphone records, could determine if texting was going on just prior to the accident, that may have contributed to the driver being distracted.
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(-1) pxamerican3
7:36PM Jan 18th 2010
I'm for the ban. People need to pull over to talk on the cellphone, for my safety. And maybe more people would be saved from getting too much radiation in their ear.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (6)
(6) pasanby
7:38PM Jan 18th 2010
Seems to me , all states already have a law that covers this , it's called reckless driving ! Just what we need , more laws they can't enforce !
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(5) jrdix
7:47PM Jan 18th 2010
lol , okay , i'm driving down the road in a suburb of columbus , i throw out a little text and , bam , federal marshalls have me up against the car . after being mirandized ...........lol, the long arm of the feds. is about to get chopped off , first forcing insurance on people , then this . who knows what's next !
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-3)
(-3) jrdix
7:51PM Jan 18th 2010
i understand car insurance if you drive , but health insurance if you live ? lol , i can choose not to drive ! reckless operation laws should sufficiently cover any problems while texting , or eating , or talking ,or listening to the radio , or drinking coffee , or playing around , or , you get the picture.... idiot controlling govt.
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(3)
(3) gdj425
8:05PM Jan 18th 2010
This a state rights issue. This administration is getting way outta hand.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (12)
(12) jancf
8:15PM Jan 18th 2010
Great idea. The stupidity of texting while driving is breathtaking. Banning it is not intrusive, it's life getting increasingly complex. Sometimes laws are needed to reflect that. I've also seen many near misses with cell-phone talking (what's with the inability to stop yakking for a little while?), including someone nearly running my son down as he was crossing a street, on a crosswalk, in his usual super-cautious way. I don't anger easily, but this kind of thing puts me over the top.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (1)
(1) htc6600
9:50PM Jan 18th 2010
And a federal ban on texting while driving would change what? There's a ban on talking on cell phones while driving in many states and does that seem to have made any difference? What a fu**ing waste of time.
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(0)
(0) maggie
10:03PM Jan 18th 2010
I am so sick of the feds trying to run my life. Our individual states are, one by one, handling this situation. Leave us alone feds!
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(4) Gini
10:24PM Jan 18th 2010
Another useless unpoliced law. In California, we have a law prohibiting talking on cel phones. No one follows it. You only get caught if there is a policeman beside you. It's ridiculous.
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(1) gvpal52
2:47AM Jan 19th 2010
But if it becomes a federal law they will enforce it with their own little commie cameras and you will pay huge fines or even go to federal prison, don't you feel better now?
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(3) Kimberley
12:01AM Jan 19th 2010
How about banning talking on the phone while driving....especially for females who seem to have that stupid thing nailed to their friggin ears and slow up traffic, make slow turns at corners, and generally mukky up the traffic? Insensitive, narcicisstic slobs!
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