Morning,


I love this idea and I am planning my new bathroom...so this is what you might see later!!

Eric,

I agree with you on the swiss-cheese nature of laws like this when implemented at the city or county level.

I think what they might be relying upon with the out of town people is that it would be too expensive to actually come back to fight it. It's cheaper to just pay. Sad, but true. In fact, the same will be true for in town people with many offenses. The court costs jumped significantly in DuPage in the last month or two.

Unless it is made into a state law or national law it is going to be difficult or impossible to enforce. How is one to determine if it is legal or not and if you don't live in Naperville you can easily get the charge dropped.

Uncle Buckeye,

I agree with you to a point, but unfortunately distracted drivers can harm more people than just themselves. This fall, 3 children almost got run over by a Mom in her SUV as she turned into her driveway next to a school. My daughter happened to be one of those 3 girls. Coincidentally, she was talking on her phone but I do believe (and here's where I agree with you) that it would have been a problem anyway because she could not see the sidewalk or the elementary sized children in the blind spot of her SUV as she made the right turn into her driveway. She just assumed that because she could not see anything that there was no way anything could be where she could not see. Stupid people doing stupid things, as you said. Luckily she heard the shouting of some parents and stopped when the coffee cup bounced off her passenger window (a nice throw, I might add) and no one was harmed in that instance. Would she have been paying more attention had she not been on the phone? Maybe.. maybe not.. (Stupid people doing stupid things).

As much as I abhor the driving cell phone user, to enact a law prohibiting that activity would lack sense. If cell phone use is banned, so should all the other unenforceable detriments to safe driving such as eating, drinking, reading, farding, shaving, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Unfortunately, stupid people do stupid things. With that said, I believe that the government has no right to enter your car in an impotent attempt to make a stupid person a smart one. Education and plain old common sense should be the method of choice to construct positive behavior. I use my seat belt routinely but resent a government-imposed penalty for not doing so. Least we forget, the citizen, at least today, does still have rights. As long as my activities are legal, the government has no justification to be inside my car, inside my house, or inside my business.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." –Edmund Burke

Jim,

I believe you listed the 2 things about WHERE they occur, not about what CAUSES them.

What I found lists them in this order:

1. Distracted Drivers
2. Driver Fatigue
3. Drunk Driving
4. Speeding
5. Aggressive Driving
6. Weather

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/07/20/the_6_most_common_causes_of_automobile_crashes.htm

Drivers who are alert, not fatigued, not drunk, not speeding, and not driving aggressively don't tend to have problems in congestion or construction zones.

According to recent studies by the AAA, cell phone use ranks 11th on a national list of accident causing distractions,yet cities seem to think banning cell phone use will dramatically reduce accidents. What about addressing the first 10 causes first? The answer is-- follow the money. It is a relatively easy "crime" to prove. Cell phone use creates records that can be used in court to prove usage. Cops can observe people using them. Its an easy source of revenue for government. If governments were really all that concerned about reducing traffic accidents, they would address the number one cause of accidents- traffic congestion and road construction zones.

Cell phone users in vehicles are accidents waiting to happen. Next time you're following someone in the fast lane, as they all do, going 27 MPH, especially soccer mom's, notice the phone hanging out of their ear as they're waving their hands with distressed looks on their face.
I think the city council should give more of their time to these kind of things than spending the tax payer's hard earned money on embarrassing lawsuits.
Why is it that when someone's elected to the city council their whole personality changes? Is it a power thing?

On the contrary, I think this one is every bit as enforceable as the seat belt law, because it's visible and obvious. All of the unenforceable distractions are enough, but this one we can enforce. It absolutely causes accidents and is not a necessity. Cell phone use without headsets should absolutely be banned, in my opinion.

A law like that would never really work. A law has to be enforceable. You'd have to post a policeman every 20 feet in Naperville to catch all the people on their phones. I'd love to hear how much revenue the city of Chicago has supposedly collected. You think one of Chicago's finest is going to leave his Krispy Kreme behind to go give a ticket to someone on their phone? Get real. File this one behind well intentioned, but hopeless.

I prefer legislation that would ban stupid people from driving.

If, for example, you actually believe that ban on cell phone usage while driving makes sense, you would not be allowed to drive under my proposed legislation.

I agree that cell phone usage should be banned however I would approve of cell phone usage only if one is using a handsfree headset. People talk in the car with their passengers all the time and having a handsfee would not be much different. Texting should be absolutely disallowed as should eating while you drive. How many times have a passed someone who is shoving a hamburger in their face?

I have a cell phone and I must admit, I have answered it while driving. But if it were outlawed, I am sure I would be just fine.

Just as aggravating to me are the people talking on cell phones who slooow waaay doooown. So many times there's a slow driver holding up traffic and when you finally get around them and look over they're talking on a cell phone. Cell phone use causes road rage.

Just don't drive. Every decision you make, cross a street, eat another slice of pizza, etc, carries risk. You make the decision as to whether the reward is worth the risk. Are you going to legislate EVERY distraction that could possibly occur in a car? How about the racy billboards on 294N? How about that attractive person walking down the street? How about that GPS screen you're looking at? It goes on forever. Just don't drive if you don't want to take the risk.

Yes, I think cell phone use while driving should be banned. I don't care about the percentage of accidents caused by cell phone use. It's visible, dangerous, and so more enforceable than some other distractions. And it absolutely causes accidents.

All the other distractions which have been named by readers are really enough, and we don't need this one. We used to be able to get where we were going without using a cell phone, and I have witnessed too many accidents because of their use. We should stop it.

I have personally seen it way too many times where I will have a driver in front of me veering off either off the road or into the other lane, and in each case, the driver was jabbering away on their cell phone, looking straight ahead and most likely not even seeing anything because they were more occupied with the call they were on then they were with being about two or three clicks away from a major accident. I personally would feel a tad bit safer if people would either pull over first to the side to blab on their cell phone, or just not even talk on the things at all while they are behind the wheel. So my answer to if drivers in this area should be fined for talking on their cell phone while driving is a hale and hearty HELL YES! And if they are caught texting while driving, they should be banned from driving without the right to an appeal!

Eli, that would be an interesting case. I wonder if the lawyer honestly believes the City of Chicago should post all legal statutes every N number of feet down every street.

I've never seen a "Temporary No Mugging Zone" or a "No Murdering here to corner" sign anyplace I've ever lived.

Also, here's something interesting I stumbled upon today-

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/12/21/city-of-chicago-sued-for-illegally-ticketing-in-car-yappers/

Some lawyer is attempting to sue the city of Chicago because there's not a "NO TALKING ON CELL PHONES" sign posted on any roads.

Of course they should ban cell phone use, it would be yet another way to collect revenue under the auspices of "protecting the public from themselves". Throw it under the same line item as the traffic camera revenue.

BTW, I did get a ticket a few years back on Iroquois for speeding. I was on the phone at the time and the officer asked me rhetorically , "Do you think talking on the phone had anything to do with you speeding?". Of course I had to answer "Yes Sir", but realistically, it had NOTHING to do with it, I would have probably been speeding regardless of the phone usage. Not advocating speeding, as I should have been driving the limit.

Any distraction takes attention away from your brain that could go towards driving and being aware of your surroundings and other objects in motion. Cell phones are just a grain on the beach of possible distractions while driving. For some, even talking to the person next to them or listening to a song is distracting and impacts their driving ability.

Text messaging for sure!! I was making a turn and text messaging last night and I rode over the sidewalk(3ft. inwards) while making my right hand turn. And I was sober!

Cell phones are not so bad for over 35 year olders but under 21 and learning how to drive they are terrible. Cell phone numbers pretty much are programmed in and with the touch of a button you make your call....text messaging is non-stop plugging in letters and numbers. That is such a serious issue!!! After last night I learned my lesson. Did not do any damage but I should not be going over a curb while turning since I am an experienced 39 year driver.

Eyeliner and mascara should be prohibited as it interferes with your eyes and your sight which you need while driving. Lipstick is OK as it does not interfere with your driving and it prevents you from being on the cell phone since it is hard to put on lipstick and talk at the same time. So it is a postive. Eyeliner and mascara look ugly and remid me of Tammy Faye Baker. Don't know why any girl would want to look that UGLY!!! Girls are so much prettier with that natural eye look!!!

I am posting ANONYMOUS this one time since I admitted going over a curb and don't want the police to track me down!! I am assuming they can if they really want to. I hope the SUN does not reveal the PING on my computer assuming it has one...lol..

Anonymous

"What proportion of vehicle accidents and fatalities occur in our Naperville because of cell phone use?"

That is a statistic that needs to be determined before anyone can go off on a rant about banning cell phone use. How many accidents has Naperville had in 2007 that can be directly attributed to cell phone use, how does that number compare to people who have gotten in to accidents peeling out of the Wendy's parking lot while digging to the bottom of their feed bag looking for their Baconator? Everyone likes to point their fingers at the cell phones being the cause of bad driving... when really, I think bad drivers will create dangerous situations regardless of what distractions the city makes illegal. Before cell phones, you could replace "talking on their cell phone" in any of the anecdotal evidence given in the original post with "doing their make up" or even "eating a cheeseburger". Besides, if talking on cell phones while driving eventually gets banned, all of these scenarios will still exist, only slightly modified-

• one driver running the red light while going east bound on Ogden and not paying attention to the red light while plotting a course on his GPS navigation unit,
  
• another driver driving charging out from a gas station, snaking through traffic, all the while desperately trying to put on their bluetooth headset,
  
• another driver charging out of a fast food restaurant and then stopping in the middle of the road, while checking their email on a Blackberry.
  
• one driver running the red light while going east bound on Ogden and not paying attention to the red light while changing songs of their iPod,
  
• another driver driving charging out from a gas station, snaking through traffic, all the while sending a text message,
  
• another driver charging out of a fast food restaurant and then stopping in the middle of the road, while starting a DVD to play on the back-seat display for their kids.

Making cell phone use illegal while driving is excessive legislation, and people with such raging attention deficit disorder that can't manage to drive their two ton four wheel drive urban assault vehicles while talking on the phone will be dangerous drivers no matter what. Distractions will always exist while driving, and being able to ignore distractions and focus on piloting your vehicle is what separates good drivers from bad drivers. If we started making a list of all possible distractions that can cause accidents to make illegal... we'd have a pretty ridiculous list on our hands when it's all said and done.