Oregeon House Bill 2482 and
Senate Bill 293, might make it illegal to push a button on your radio, or change the volume while driving, unless you have a "hands-free" radio.

Comments?

How to you get that out of the bill?

Have Strg wheel radio controls....is that OK? Also can I no longer pick my nose while driving either?

Add:
Sorry...a little rushed or may have come up with a ore intelligent response. I guess that's just the DUByah in me!

Doesn't sound to me like radios are invloved here.

" Creates offense of operating motor vehicle while using mobile
communication device. Punishes by maximum fine of $90...."

And

"Mobile communication device' means a text messaging device
or a wireless, two-way communication device designed to receive
and transmit voice communication."

You cant scratch yourself either. Thats a distraction.

Only ways I know of getting it out of the bill are to do a campaign donation, trip to hawaii, put money in your rep's refrigerator, round of golf, box of cigars, etc.

How is pushing a radio button fundamentally different that pushing a button on a blackberry? Are not both distractions?

You wouldn't be able to push the On-Star button either.

http://landru.leg.state.or.us/07reg/measures/hb2400.dir/hb2482.intro.html

Re: Onstar use:

" (3) This section does not apply to:
(a) A person operating an ambulance or emergency vehicle; or
(b) A person summoning medical or other emergency help if no
other person in the vehicle is capable of summoning help.
(4) The offense described in this section, operating a motor
vehicle while using a mobile communication device, is a Class D
traffic violation.

I hire people to change my stations for me. It's good for the economy.

I'm generally for this bill.

Honestly, given the complexity of many radios today, perhaps they should be included! We've gone way off the past of simple usability. Passing something like this would provide some incentive for manufacturers to think a little harder on what really makes a radio useful.

30 buttons, 5 modes, games, etc... have zero business in the car. The kids like them --I like them, but when I have to read the radio to make a change, it's not good.

Bring back the simple knobs, and rethink them to reduce the number of buttons. This, in turn, will all for them to be bigger and the smaller number of them will easily fit into peoples tactile memory, resulting in us again having a high degree of eyes on the road usability. This is really important, and we've lost sight of it.

With digital tech the way it is, there is a lot of things we can do with knobs that would be very usable over what we've gotten done with buttons.

Knobs push in, pull out, turn and have detents.

So, gestures seems to be an obvious way to increase the functionality of the knob while at the same time not requiring visual attention.

We can also add tactile feed back to the list of things avaliable on a knob. Quickly twist back and forth to change bands. A quick tap, then tactile feed back to allow one to hop between stations, feeling for them on the way...

Feeling around on button panels takes quite a bit of attention. On many new radios, these things are in close enough proximity to be an issue for many drivers. And it's getting worse.

As for the phones and other goodies, they are dangerous. I pull over now after having a close call while using one of those things.

Even hands free can be an issue, but it's far less of one than holding a phone is.

It will never pass, but personal grooming should be on the list of dangerous things we should be regulating, if we are gonna regulate this kind of stuff.

I used to be on the, "let the person decide" side of things, until I ended up in seat belt school a while back.

I almost passed and just took the ticket, but decided to go anyway. Morbid interest I suppose.

If this is diversion, then we should be doing more of it! An experienced trauma nurse came in and outlined the physics of the moving car, how the belt helps and a bunch of other great information. He held nothing back and entertained any and all questions. Nobody left that room thinking they were doing the right thing by not wearing their seat belt. Nobody. I was one of the harder cases, having prepped a coupla tough questions in advance!

Bottom line is that objects and people in a moving vehicle, that have any significant mass at all, should be well constrained. Those other objects, lacking significant mass are still subject to some pretty serious consideration as well. It's not just the trauma, but diversion of attention that's the real killer.

Having seen the results of that legislation and the positive impact on our health care system, I am totally sold, despite the fact that I feel very strongly about one being able to make their own choices.

IMHO, this bill is a no brainer, it would do a lot of good, even as it annoys a lot of people.

Seriously, since the language of the bill seems to be aimed at "2 way" communications devices, would it become an offense for me to talk on my 2-meter HAM radio while driving? Would truckers have to pull off the road to use their CB radios?

I can't count how many times I have been on the bike and almost gotten hit because some asshole driver is deciding to yak on his cell phone while driving! Even worse (and I have noticed a sort-of increasing trend with this) is the idiots who use text-message devices while driving!

But the new proposition is a bit too broad, I think. If the state gets its way pretty soon they start making it illegal to think while driving.

Mental cogitation while motoring?
Nope, too distracting. Twenty to life. *pounds gavel*

And Alfredo, if it gets such that CBs become illegal in Oregon, well all I can say is, buh-bye to my trips to Pendleton........................

clearly they are talking about people driving with one hand and holding a device to the side of their head with the other....

and or text message/blackberry use while driving.

its amazing the ammount of people on the road doing these things. and it clearly is a safety issue for everyone on the roads.

It makes me wonder how people existed before they could talk on their phone while driving.

some new cars have the phone and its keypad right in the dashboard!! the voice comes out the stereo while there is a mic in on the roof over the driver.

i've even seen people steering and smoking with one hand and holding a phone to their head while driving a stick shift!!

Don't forget the latte cup

One of my Dad's former un-named co-workers (who about ten years ago moved to Texas and now has a computer consulting firm, but despite the great distance is still a very close friend of our family) reportedly and from first-hand experience as a passenger, while driving:

--Has one hand holding his cell phone to his ear
--Has his other hand typing on his laptop, sitting next to him
--Turns his steering wheel with his knee
--And reportedly has never gotten into an accident (miraculously) after doing this for almost a decade!

I had an opportunity to go driving with him while he was still living in the Coove, and quite frankly I never before had been a more frightened, nervous passenger of any driver's car than I had been then!

(Absolutely NONE of this is made-up, incidentally!!)

Before I forget, Notalent~

"i've even seen people steering and smoking with one hand and holding a phone to their head while driving a stick shift!!"

Yes!! These types are rampant around the 28th-Burton/112th intersection, also along Thurston (particularly the stretch along the Mall) in Vancouver! Almost been hit by a couple of those types too............

"Would truckers have to pull off the road to use their CB radios?"


Let me put it this way . . . a trucker was killed off Columbia blvd a few years back after pulling into the path of an oncoming frieght train while getting directions from his boss on a cell phone.

another unnecessary law. Won't stop people and will be nearly unenforceable. Why do they try and legislate stupidity. How about responsible for your own actions?

By the way since you can be seriously injured skiing, I think they ought to pass a law banning all down hill skiing. Snowshoeing and X-country skiing would still be allowed if one purchases an Oregon State Activity card. 129.00 for annual license. How about those dangerous jet skis also?

BAN THEM!

I won't even be able to change my mind while driving then......that happens to me all of the time and it is distracting as hell!

You know it all boils down to the fact that some of us can actually chew gum and walk at the same time and some cannot. So take away from the Can Do because the Can Not's are idiots!

I can't believe nobody took notice of my DUByah pun early on...I thought it was a good one!

I made a lame statement and followed it with:

"Sorry...i'm a little rushed or I may have come up with a more intelligent response. I guess that's just the DUByah in me!"

Before long someone might pass a law making walking down the sidewalk illegal, because a car might run off the road and run the person over.

It makes just as much sense.

Generally I am against bills like this......supposedly a similar proposition (yet again) seems to be floating about Washington's legislature currently. (Will post specifics if/when I find them.....this is just my own "readsay" based on a report in the Columbian a while ago.)

As is evidenced by some of my above posts I do think (and know firsthand) it is a safety hazard to be operating a cellular phone or text message device while driving. DON'T get the Guvment involved tho......that does little to improve safety and only wastes time, money and resources! (i.e. "creates red tape.")

If the driver wants to use the device, let him. He'll learn soon enough that he shouldn't use said devices while driving, when he's sitting for five months in the slammer on involuntary manslaughter..............

Do like they do with DVD drivers area players. Equip them with a gyro that will sense forward motion faster than walking and disable all but 911 calls except when in hands free mode. I am scheduled to buy one of these next month and it has built in Bluetooth for my cell phone that will disable the stereo for the incoming call and then turn the stereo back on when done....pretty slick!

Have a peek:
2076_310069872_307671418%2C00.html,http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/p roduct/details/0,,2076_310069872_307671418,00.html

I can't count how many times I have seen bike riders yak on phone with one hand and the other hand in their pocket while pedeling thru stop signs!

Are I-pods included? Are they "communication" devices? Seems like those would be just as distracting, or more distracting.

I like KSKD's analysis, about simple radios dont require you to take eyes off the road, while complex 30 button radios with multifunction buttons and multilayer menus take much more attention and brainpower and eyesight to operate.

Auto manufactures could modify radios to lock out button operation while car is moving as a safety feature!

I was really wondering how it would effect broacast programming if mobile listeners couldn't change stations so easily? What impact on programming would be the result?

Hey Zak...Moto down the Cascade cinemas and check out Ghost Rider...it is Awesome man!

I listened to Oregon State Senator Ted Ferrioli interviewed this morning on KIHR in Hood River and he brought up an interesting and extremely valid point by stating that there are laws already on the books that covers virtually anything that causes distractions to the driver. He stated that since there are already laws in place,why in the world do the folks in Salem need to pass yet another law? Is it to perhaps justify their existence? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Yet another reason why each session of the legislature should begin with a chorus of "Send In The Clowns."

hang on people just a bit . . . by engaging in dangerous activities such as extreme skiing, bungie diving and playing chicken with locomotives, these people usually kill THEMSELVES. With phones in cars, they tend kill OTHER PEOPLE. Big difference.

I read (no link) in The O recently that cell phone usage resulted in driver impairment equilvant to one of the lower DUI alchohol levels.

I'm for this law. The thought of prying my daughter out of a smashed car because of some jerk on a phone is enough for me.

Hands free phones, Intravenous Cheese Burgers, voice activated wipe your ass and do everything driver controls, mute button that works for all passangers most of all right front seat drivers in non-european cars, and finally voice actived birds on each side for all of the idiot's on the road....flip off left....flip off right....flip off both!
Just be careful what you say in a car like that...."Well kiss my ass" would take on a "Hole" new meaning"!

I personally have no objection to laws that are not actively enforced. For example, gun laws here in Canada allow the Police to question and detain anyone carrying a handgun (other than security guards, etc.) without risking false arrest/harrassment charges. The theory is that someone carrying a handgun is probably involved in criminal behaviour.

So, I would support a "no cell phone usage by the driver in a moving vehicle" law even if it was only used to lay charges and assign blame (financial responsibility) for accidents. Unfortunately, we don't seem very close to having such a law here in Alberta, Canada. But, a very encouraging trend is the growing number of organizations here banning cell phone use by their employees while driving on Business. For example, a friend told me how the ban got started at his company -- the President read about an insurance company elsewhere in Canada refusing to pay a customer's auto accident claim because the customer was driving while using his cell phone when the accident occurred. The President could have been a victim of an Urban Myth, but it motivated him to act.

A local engineering firm actually has published a manual on how to implement a Cell Phone Driving ban within any organization. The story made Radio News headlines here locally about a month ago.

I would think this would fall under the "driving while encumbered" law.

No matter how hard they try, politicians will never be able to legislate common sense and safety, but try they will.

They are going to have to outlaw putting on makeup, smoking, shaving, reading the paper, looking at a map, changing the baby's diaper, and a host of other things that STUPID people do.

They will also have to legalize DDT again so we can wipe out the bee population. What if someone who is deathly allergic to bee stings had a bee fly in their open window? They'd panic and might cause an accident.

Oh wait; here is a better idea, outlaw car windows that go down. That would solve the problem of an errant bee flying in.

Here's the best idea yet. Outlaw politicians!

"driving while encumbered" law.

They should nail every politician on that one!
More than half are encumbered just walking down the sidewalk!

Yep!

Will big telecom companies donate to your opponent's campaign in the next election if you vote for this bill?

They don't have the time or manpower to pull over the idiots driving erratically now. You're telling me they're going to make time to pull over people driving well, just because they're on the phone?

Why?

Paul, the reason for most of these kind of laws, cell phone, wearing seat belts, motor cycle helmets, etc can be summed up in one word.......Revenue.

Here's how I sum it up.

Seeing as how they cannot get anything accomplished that actually means something they go ahead will bullshit like this for the media coverage. Good is boring and crap is news. Oh ya....I remember that politician....he was the one on the hands free thing. Don't matter that his bill to eliminate hunger in the US got squashed.....they remember him for the "Cheeseburger Law"!

Vent complete

That's it I running for office.

I am calling my state rep and demand that mountain climbing be banned. Someone could get hurt. Fine em, jail em!

Btw, why do we keep electing these same goobs?

Is it the case of voting for the one we don't like the least? Heck write somebody in!

If you want to ban mountain climbing, you first have to define what a mountain is.

Maybe they should let you do anything you want while driving, you just have to have an extra insurance rider, for each activety.

Well now son....know why i'm giving you this ticket..?
No!
Well you flipped me off without proof of insurance to fly that Bird!
So now you would get a ticket for illegally flying your Bird!

What if the Mt Hood climbing accident was caused by climber trying to send a text message?

It used to be that wearing headphones while driving was against the law...

It probably still is but of course not enforced.

the reason being that one can not hear sirens etc while having audio piped directly into your ears.

maybe they should enforce this part of the driving code too...

I'm all for it..Cellphones should be ILLEGAL to use while in a moving vehicle.Period.
I'm tired of almost getting plowed by the 'Tard in the SUV who's too busy yakking to even stay in their own lane.
It's worse than drunk driving in some cases,And comparable in almost all cases.

I almost get hit by one of these idiots on a weekly-basis.
I can't even explain what happens,it's like their brain leaks out of their ear as soon as the phone reaches their head.Out of control,it has to stop.
I for one am completely F'n tired of it.

"You know it all boils down to the fact that some of us can actually chew gum and walk at the same time and some cannot. So take away from the Can Do because the Can Not's are idiots!"

Yea,well,I'll give up my right to chew and walk at the same time,if it prevents me from getting killed by some idiot who can't.

...Yea,well,I'll give up my right to chew and walk at the same time...........

Small price to pay.... then you'll be willing to give up another small unimportant right to be safer..... then another.... then another....

then you won't have any, but that will be ok because The State will provide everything you need to be safe, protected and cared for.

Of course, you will do EXACTLY as told or spend time in reeducation camp! All hail our glorious
enlightened leaders.

All Hail W....All Hail W.... Ah...Ta Hell with W!

I used to think that way. Perhaps I've been indoctrinated.

Cars are these big metal things that are dangerous. There are a lot of them and we know stupid does not hurt, so we've got a lot of that too.

Some regulation is in our best interests.

I know I can handle my car, but I don't know that a lot of people can handle theirs. Deapite the limit on my personal freedom, the regulation is actually in my best interest, so I'm for it generally.

What happens is that social norms begin to change with laws like this. Too much is too much, of course. However, it's difficult to change social norms sometimes without a nudge from the law.

BTW, I'm only for this if we combine it with a public education program of some kind. The combination is what makes the difference. Just passing the law and feeling good about it does nearly nothing.

"Small price to pay.... then you'll be willing to give up another small unimportant right to be safer..... then another.... then another...."

Pfft..Gimme a break.

Other kinds of radio users (various types of radios):

- Taxicab drivers (both the regular voice radio and that fancy dispatch computer they seem to have on the dashboard now).

- Utility vehicle dispatch.

- What else??

- And....... can't you just see the people pulled over to the side of the road so they can take that "urgent" cell phone call? Seems like that could cause an unintended problem, too...

What did these hazardous morons do before the cell phone? Oh, that's right, they did what we are all supposed to do when in a car, they drove. No, really, like steering and everything?

No officer is going to pile out of the car and give you a ticket for calling 911 dispatch on a cell, a Ham or a CB rig, ever. If he or she is there, you can tell him or her your concern, in person. There is no other "emergency call" that means a hoot.

If your wife is expecting, lay the cell on the seat or dash when you climb in, when it rings, look at the caller ID, hit the gas and get her. Resourceful people do not get stupid tickets, that is why they are called "stupid" tickets.

Hands free tuning, the old school way, the foot controlled "Wonderbar": http://www.ev1.pair.com/59olds/album/source/59olds221.html

Avocates of the use of common sense.... Let's have a law making the failure to use common sense a crime.

I hear you, but I've come to the realization that we are gonna be stuck with a percentage of stupid people.

If stupid were painful, we would not have these kinds of issues, but it's not. So some legislation, given it's not out of line, is the next best thing.

We don't all suck, but enough of us do to dirty the pool for everybody.

Author: Missing_kskd
Friday, February 23, 2007 - 10:22 am

"If stupid were painful,"

Prescription grade painkillers would be legalized due to the large amount of politicians needing them on a continual basis! HA

In the future, 2 way and one way communication devices will merge and it becomes difficult to tell which is which.

Plumbers, other types of contractors, airport shuttles, tow trucks that cruise around waiting to pounce on people using private parking lots, use 2 way radios.

Sorry, but I'm a little sensitive on this one. As one in 1991 whose car was totalled when rear-ended at low speed by a courier truck driver talking on his two way radio. His attitude was "so what, that's why I pay for insurance." It took me 10-12 working days to research and then negotiate for a new car, and I only got $2800 for the mint condition 8 year old car that he destroyed, which was easily worth $8-9K to me, in terms of how many more years I could have gotten out of it. Besides, it had been my late grandfather's car that he twisted the frame on.

Even then, I could probably have pushed the issue and got him charged with "driving without due care and attention". But my point is that laws for these kinds of stupidity allow us to avoid the kind of "every accident is 50/50" that seemed to be the direction that things were going not that long ago. It must have looked great to car insurance companies, too, as it would allow them to up the rates of everyone who got into any accident, and both sides had to pay their deductible.