Virginia lawmakers renew push to ban holding a phone while driving

[TexasTowelie]

RICHMOND — In November 2017, Lakin Gabel left her 3-month-old son behind to head to work in Williamsburg. But she never got there.

While the 21-year-old new mom was driving, she started Snapchatting and lost control of her vehicle. On Wednesday, Roxanne Gable held up the last Snapchat selfie her daughter ever took as she joined Virginia lawmakers in Richmond to support hands-free driving legislation that would ban drivers from holding a cellphone for any reason.

“Our mission, obviously, is to get this bill passed,” said Tabitha Clark, Lakin Gabel’s cousin.

Under current law, what Lakin Gabel was doing that day wasn’t illegal. The law says drivers can’t use their phones for emails or texts, but it isn’t broad enough to cover the multitude of things people can do on their phones in the age of social media and live video streaming.

Read more: https://www.roanoke.com/news/politics/general_assembly/virginia-lawmakers-renew-push-to-ban-holding-a-phone-while/article_7b4fa810-a4aa-512c-9803-29c6e0d6bce3.html

[elleng]

1. Do it. Already done in Maryland.

The law in Maryland prohibits the use of a handheld phone while driving. This includes the writing, sending or reading of a text or electronic message.

[rusty quoin]

2. No one should text while driving

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. I suspect that far more accidents are caused by irresponsible

cell phone usage than is currently recognized.

When I'm driving, if my phone goes off, I will read a text. I will NOT respond until I've pulled off to a stop.

It's really not all that long ago that none of us had cell phones and somehow we managed.

As an aside, I keep on thinking I want to write a science fiction story in which someone from now (currently 2019) goes back to, say 1980, and is driven bat-shit crazy by no internet and no cell phones. I've never seen a time travel story that deals with that issue.