California Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a new bill that will target 16 and 17 year old drivers on their cell phones.  Starting July 1, 2008, officers will start to hand out $20 tickets for the first offense, $50 for each additional offense.  At the same time, a different law becomes effective requiring all cell users to use a hands free device while driving, the fines will be he same.

Now this has a really good idea behind it, I was the victim of a fairly serious car accident because a woman was on her cell and not paying attention, so at the core, I think this is the right thing to do, but I really wonder how enforceable it is going to be.  Here in Pennsylvania we have a seat belt law.  The fine can be up to $115 for not wearing your seat belt, but there’s a twist.  No officer can pull you over solely because they see you without it on, it must be in conjunction with some other citation, like a tail light out.  Therefor, it is not really that enforceable.  Secondly, who is going to keep track of how many times you’ve been given tickets to know if $20 or $50 is the right amount to charge?  Lastly, it is such a small sum of money, I can see it being thrown into the cost of driving tax that so many people are accustomed to paying.  It is essentially the amount of money that certain people associate with driving, mostly in speeding tickets, sometimes in parking tickets, but not a real tax in the sense of the word.

Source: Information Week

Similar articles that might also interest you:

Comments