so what's the skinny on truck drivers / cell phones in florida as of 1-1-12?

[newbury]

It doesn't matter, people will always be distracted.
You can't legislate stupid.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. and if a conversation distracts someone.. then can they legally? talk to a pasanger? what about sing along with the radio? or even LISTEN to the radio?


slippery slope starting here.


concentration is an individual issue here..

 

[lostcause]

they were even trying to ban hands free devices while driving. guess that didn't pass at least. one article i read about this in a local paper quoted the ntsb as saying that divers are more distracted while talking on a hands free device than when talking to a passenger.

i dunno about the rest of you, but i will freely admit that when talking to a passenger i sometimes will turn my head toward them, even though i know better. when on a hands free device at least i'm not doing that - hard to belive that i'm more unsafe when on hands free? i guess the next step will be to ban us from talking to passengers while driving.

learn to live by common sense and stop relying on people passing laws to protect you from yourself.

 

[sandman2234]

On the other hand, I wonder if my cell phone is going to get me in trouble (I drive mostly at night) when I start using the mapping program to see how far my next stop is. I typically program the address I am going to before I leave, and just have a single click to take it from the last stop to my present location and calculate how far I have to go. With "just in time" deliveries, crucial minutes count to the people that are paying me to run their freight. I can see it lighting up the inside of my truck, and an uninformed officer pulling me over to ticket me for being "on the phone". If I show him the call log, he will just say that I erased the call... no way to win.
David from jax

 

[Soundguy]

i guess technically you could request a court date and then produce call logs from the cell provider to PROOVE you were not on the phone.

then wonder if you could sue the state fortime and trouble defending yerself



soundguy

 

[crashz]

In my opinion, nothing will change until the punishment is severe enough to cause people to re-think their habits. And the best way to accomplish that is to raise the fines for violations to accurately cover the real costs of the violation. Yes - everyone makes mistakes. But a responsible person should pay for them.

I also believe that all vehicle operation should be conducted similar to the CDL program. One federal license, one set of rules, and strict enforcement on violations. Would require a more thorough and in-depth driver's test. Would eliminate the confusing state to state rules, multiple registrys, local and state transportation rules and the ability for a drunk driver to keep his licesne after the 9th offense. It would alos be nice for all drivers to be full educated oin the workings of a car and be required to conduct regular inspections of their vehicle. I bet this would eliminate at least 1/3 of the drivers on the road who cannot cut the mustard.

Petty law after petty law will do nothing...

 

[sandman2234]

i guess technically you could request a court date and then produce call logs from the cell provider to PROOVE you were not on the phone.

then wonder if you could sue the state fortime and trouble defending yerself



soundguy

Yeah, good luck with that one, lol...
One of our drivers got stopped today, and he asked the DOT officer when the rule was coming into effect requireing hands free. He said it was already in effect, but they weren't writting tickets, only warnings for 90 days. (Don't bank on that cause the next officer that stops you might not have gotten that memo!!)
David from jax

 

[flyingcow]

Seems like the hands free has been in effect for at least 30 days

 

[Soundguy]

'bout what I'm hearing now as well.

 

[Bigfoot62]

I understand it's just for CMV's. . .

Unless you are on a Federal military base. They've had a law against using a cell while driving for years. And, the fine is steep! IIRC, it's $500.