Cheyenne might become first city to enact and retract a law against cell phone use while driving.

[The Straight Story]

In Wyoming, cell phone ban isn't right call for all
Cheyenne might become first city to enact and retract a law against cell phone use while driving.


DENVER — Cheyenne, Wyo., City Councilman Jim Brown, thinking it was time his city joined the movement to keep drivers from being distracted by their handheld cell phones, steered an ordinance banning the practice into law last month.

Now, he's getting an earful from outraged Wyomingites.

"We have the right to bear a cell phone," said M. Lee Hasenauer, 49, who collected more than 3,500 signatures in support of his petition against the ordinance.

If the city clerk validates at least 2,800 of them, officials must either repeal the ordinance or put it to a public vote.

....

City Councilman Don Pierson, who argued against the ordinance, felt police shouldn't be permitted to stop a driver for a behavior that hadn't caused a traffic problem.

"If I'm driving down the road, minding my own business and talking on my cell phone, leave me alone," said Pierson, a former police officer who said he was besieged with calls from residents objecting to the ordinance.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/2009/10/25/1025cellphones.html

Wonder if this will catch on in other places?

[Ter]

1. It's been a NY law for over 5 years

[tabbycat31]

2. the NY law took effect 2 weeks too late for me

I was in a horrible accident 2 weeks before the NY law went into effect (in 2000). My little car was rear-ended by an Expedition, who's driver was yapping away and failed to see I was stopped at a stop sign). She literally took the trunk off my car, and my neck still hurts as a result of that accident.

I'm one of the strongest advocates for laws restricting cellphones while driving.

[eleny]

5. I was almost hit by a guy who couldn't negotiate a left turn adequately

I was stopped at a light on a 4 lane road. He came around in front of me from the cross street and was trying to turn left. I could see that he was not giving me a wide enough berth, so I quickly went into reverse and was able to back up a few feet. I was so lucky that the car behind me was far enough back. The driver making the turn just kept talking on his phone and never even looked at me. There was no median, so he was oblivious.

This issue is not one where people should be making a libertarian argument.

[tabbycat31]

14. it makes as much sense to make a libertarian argument as seatbelt use laws do

[Ter]

15. Very sorry to hear about your accident

But in all honesty, do you think the law would have stopped him from doing it? Since the law went into effect (in 2000), I must have used my cell while driving at least 3,000 times. All of my friends still do too. The only thing that changed is we look around for cops first.

[BzaDem]

16. If anything, that indicates there should be much higher fines, not lower or no fines.

If people continue to drive with the law in effect, that just means the fines are not adequate. The fines shouldn't be excessive, but they should be high enough so that people worry about them even when they glance around and don't see any cops.

[DJ13]

3. Its like trying to keep junkies away from heroin

They just cant do without, not even for short drives.

[stevedeshazer]

4. "We have the right to bear a cell phone"

Why not legalize drunk driving, too? Don't the good folks of Wyoming deserve to "bear an adult beverage" too? As long as, as Pierson says, "If I'm driving down the road, minding my own business and talking on my cell phone, leave me alone".

Isn't it the same logic to analogize impaired driving as okay, no matter the source?

This argument is just as ridiculous as that of the anti-motorcycle helmet and anti-seat belt people.

Common sense is that impaired driving of any kind shouls be illegal.

[eleny]

7. "...minding my own business..."

He ought to be minding the road!

[stevedeshazer]

9. Yeah, there is that.

:)

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. The law is totally ignored in Los Angeles.

[Inspired]

8. Does that mean we have a right to be drunk while driving down the road, too? n/t

[Ikonoklast]

10. Your rights end when your behavior endanger others.

And driving while talking on a cell phone does exactly that; it's not an opinion, it's a fact.

Hell, the first thing the cops around here ask the drivers involved in an accident, after "Is anyone hurt?" is "Were you talking on a cell phone?".

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I witnessed a bad one car accident a month or so ago

When the cops got there the first thing they asked me was if the driver had been talking on a cell phone.

[vadawg]

12. yup its a common cause of accidents, so are people eating breakfast burrittos for some reason

i had three of them in a month, no idea why the sudden anomoly. Also had the old reliable having sex whilst crashing....

[opihimoimoi]

13. Honolulu, the Luau Capital of the World, is one of the first...We get our hands and feet cut off if

caught