It took longer than I anticipated, but it finally happened.
The first person to be arrested under New Hampshire's new "texting while driving" law has been arrested. Granted, that wasn't his only problem, but he was originally pulled over for his text messaging.
From the New Hampshire Union Leader:
Lt. Gary Fisher said Stephen Judd, 20, of Dracut, Mass., was texting on his phone while traveling down Bridge Street on Monday morning, in plain sight of an officer. Officers later learned Judd was driving with a suspended license, he said.
A texting-while-driving violation wouldn't usually lead to an arrest, Fisher said, but police weren't going to let Judd drive away without a license.
"From what I understand, this was blatant. The officer observed it blatantly; the phone literally was at the steering wheel level," he said. "In New Hampshire you can be arrested for a violation. It's not our normal practice to arrest people for violation offenses of that nature, like speeding or driving without an inspection sticker."
Well, first, it goes without saying that the texter is allegedly a moron. Allegedly.
Second, this law is a joke. In my opinion, it was essentially created as a response to a viral video. While I don't support or engage in the behavior, the problem is the law is targeted at one thing--when the real problem is the fact that drivers aren't paying attention.
The Granite State already has a distracted driving law. What they really needed was a "hands-free/distracted driving" law, requiring vehicle operators to...oh, I don't know...actually pilot their vehicles safely.
I drive an hour each way to work along Interstate 93 in New Hampshire. During my commute--and since this law was passed and enacted--I have actually seen people do the following things while driving--and all proceeding at a high rate of speed:
- Talking on a cell phone
- Texting while driving
- Eating with chopsticks
- Scratching lottery tickets with a coin
- Brushing their teeth
- Reading
- Shaving
- Clipping fingernails
- Picking their nose
- Letting their dog sit in their lap as they drive
- Fumbling for a song on their iPod
- Applying make-up
- Looking in their rear-view mirror as they try to get something out of their teeth
- Brushing their hair
- Painting their fingernails
- Reaching for something in the back seat
- Using their laptop
- Trimming their nose hair
- Tying a neck tie
There is no law for any of these individual actions and each of them is equally as dangerous as texting while driving is.
Incidentally--the penalty for texting while driving? A $100 fine. That's it.
If the State of New Hampshire really wanted to discourage people from texting while driving, the fine would be more like $1,000 and license revocation...on the first offense. If the State of New Hampshire really cared about making the roads safer, they'd address those other things, too.
Now, I'm not one for more laws. In fact, I believe the five most beautiful words ever strung together are "Congress shall make no law..." But, if a legislative body is going to create a law to protect the citizens, that law ought to actually protect people. People ought to be smart enough to realize they shouldn't do these things while driving but, apparently, they aren't. Fine...let's teach them a lesson.
More importantly, let's make the roads safer. For everyone.
That is...you know...if people can't go and buy a damned Bluetooth headset for $20 (or less) to make phone calls and keep their hands on the wheel.
What else have you seen people doing while driving? Please feel free to tell me in the comments below...
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