Delaware House Bill 291 would ban text messaging while driving in Delaware.  It proposes a $25.00 fine as a secondary offense.  (you have to be stopped for something else for the fine to take effect).  It’s meaningless and a waste of time, as Dan Gaffney listener Matt Opaliski explains:

“Dan,

There is no need to enact a new law to deal specifically with texting or emailing when we currently have a statute that applies to what the suggested problem is that Rep. Hudson is attempting to combat, inattentiveness. Regardless of what other states are doing which is more likely the reason that it’s been introduced here, legislation like that can carry only one accurate label, Feel Good Legislation…

Excerpt from  Title 21:
§ 4176. Careless or inattentive driving.
(a) Whoever operates a vehicle in a careless or imprudent manner, or without due regard for road, weather and traffic conditions then existing, shall be guilty of careless driving.
(b) Whoever operates a vehicle and who fails to give full time and attention to the operation of the vehicle, or whoever fails to maintain a proper lookout while operating the vehicle, shall be guilty of inattentive driving.
(c) Whoever violates this section shall for the first offense be fined not less than $25 nor more than $115. For each subsequent like offense occurring within 3 years of a former offense, the person shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $230, or imprisoned not less than 10 nor more than 30 days, or both.”

A better idea for lawmakers:  record some public service commercials to tell folks not to be stupid.  I’ll air them on WGMD.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 16th, 2008 at 8:41 am and is filed under Delaware, Local Politics, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.