SAN ANTONIO -- Hoping to cut down on accidents involving distracted drivers, the San Antonio City Council voted unanimously Thursday morning to outlaw texting while driving.(from KSAT-12)
The new city ordinance makes it illegal to use a hand-held electronic device for anything other than making or receiving phone calls.
How enforceable is this law going to be beyond the laws already in place against distracted driving? All a person has to do when he's texting and notices a cop looking his way is to slap that phone against his ear and say he was just making a phone call. Not texting, just calling.
It's just another layer of bureaucracy.
2 comments:
It makes about as much sense as banning cell phone usage in school zones. Only less, since it seems cities with texting-while-driving bans actually have higher accident rates associated with the practice.
Only less, since it seems cities with texting-while-driving bans actually have higher accident rates associated with the practice.
Yes, and I understand our elected leaders were a bit miffed by the timing of the release of this data:
The question still remains of how effective the new ordinance will be. A recent multi-state study conducted by the Highway Loss Data Institute showed that crash rates may slightly increase as a result of bans on texting while driving.
But leaders discount those results and say it makes common sense to prohibit the prolific form of distracted driving. [Councilman Phil] Cortez called the release of the study “somewhat reckless” and “unfortunate and misleading.”
Which suggests to me that this new S.A. ordinance is nothing more than political posturing. Overall, it will amount to very little.
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