For those of you thinking a LEFTIST leading body of government will not infringe on your rights. Take a look at these too instances in California
California to drivers: Drop the cell phone, dude (bills author is Joe Simitian of Palo Alto)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Next week California will try to wrest cell phones from the hands of drivers, telling everyone from movie starlets and dot-com millionaires to surfers and soccer moms that conversations behind the wheel must be on a headset.
Several U.S. states and some two dozen countries around the world already have restrictions on mobile phones while driving but now such a law has come to California — where the car is king and much of life is spent on the famously snarled freeways.
Then there are the ever popular Smoke bans.
Smoking Bans (Rep’s like Shay Shual-Burke)
Palm Desert smoking ban moves forward
The City Council has continued discussion of an ordinance that would allow smoking only in homes, cars and designated areas of the city.
“I want to say for the residents here that what is being proposed is a smoke-free Palm Desert,” said councilman Jim Ferguson at the June 12 meeting.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit smoking in public areas such as entrances to businesses.
Originally, the proposed changes prohibited smoking in areas that “have a common or shared air space with other enclosed areas in which smoking is prohibited.”
The proposed ordinances change current city law that allows smokers and non-smokers to use the same indoor ventilation systems as long as they are separated by a barrier.
Loma Linda Bans Smoking In Most Of Public Places
LOMA LINDA, Calif. — Smokers now have far fewer places where they can light up in Loma Linda.
Council members on Tuesday passed an anti-smoking law that prohibits tobacco use in most of the city’s public places.
The ordinance bans smoking on Loma Linda’s public streets and sidewalks, in parks, restaurants, theaters and hospitals, as well as most of the city’s motel and apartment units.
The fine for a first offense will be $100 or less.
The city council said it’s not the intent to punish smokers but to protect resident who don’t want to be exposed to second-hand smoke.
The ban takes effect immediately, KNBC’s Mary Parks reported.
Whether you smoke or use your cell phone while driving is not the point, the point is that our legislators here in California have chosen the easier paths in every instance.
Our legislators (Liberals for the most part) have decided to start with these basic infringements to set the table for others, like trans fats, or maybe BBQ’ing because of green house gasses, or removing the second amendment all together in California.
The liberal mind is a strange thing, they will go to the ends of the earth to prevent “Innocent Deaths” but they are perfectly ok with abortion and allowing pedofreaks to roam free, they will not stiffen punishments for the most violent crime but they feel morally obligated to remove things from us, that they deem bad for us… WTF?
I quit smoking over four months ago, and I don’t drive while using my cell phone very often, so these “laws†don’t really affect me, but I am reminded that if we let things go because they don’t affect you, sooner or later things that do affect you will be taken and NO one will be there for you.
Our whole nation is at risk for the removal of the rights we hold dearest in November.
That is not a blanket endorsement of McCain, truthfully I don’t know what I am going to do in November, I am going to sit on my hands until then and pray the good lord above will sort things out between now and then.
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Ya know, we’re gonna disagree here I guess…
I wish they’d ban smoking everywhere, and 8 years ago I would never have said it, but now that I have been smoke free for that long I DO realize how bad it STINKS and the dangers it poses to health..
It won’t happen I don’t suppose but that’s one area I wish they DID take care of all over the USA…
@TexasFred: That’s kind of my point Fred, I don’t smoke anymore either, nor do I appreciate the urge the smell brings for folks that have not chosen to quit yet. The point is CHOICE, while I don’t like it, the choice to smoke in wide open park or a sidewalk should be that of the individual. The choice to throw your butts on the ground should be rewarded with a fine for littering.
The issue is not the “Right to smoke” Fred, its the starting block that most DEMS use to whittle away at our rights as Americans. They went from smoking bans to Cell Phones next might be internet speech, then it affects us and then we bitch and moan, seems kind of selfish to me.
We have a huge push for cell phone bans in school zones, and for hands free operation, they claim it takes away from the drivers focus on his driving, and ya know, I have to agree, it IS dangerous…
Maybe it’s a *right* to endanger the lives of others, must be one I missed along the way…
Some folks say *red light cameras* are an invasion of privacy, I think it’s a viable deterrent to the red light runner and the injuries and death that could be caused if they didn’t have it on their mind that they *might* get a ticket…
I know folks that think it’s entrapment for the police to set up sex stings, maybe it is, what do I know…
The bottom line is, you can’t legislate common sense, and there are certainly many in this nation that have none…
@TexasFred: You know I don’t disagree with the cell phone ban while driving, what I disagree with is the in all instances… this bill passed in the most traffic congested part of the country, folks sit in traffic going 2 MPH for hours and they can’t use a phone because of safety?
I think they could have done a better job of legislating such common sense measures.
My point is not that it’s a right to endanger safety Fred, but that’s the argument GUN grabbers are using, in the interest of safety. So don’t think that this type of ban is not a start of something more… kind of like the helmet laws IMO, you want to be an organ donor it is your right.
The red light camera is a different entity too, it has always been illegal to run a red light. It has not always been illegal to smoke or use your cell phone while driving.
Fred- I’ve almost rear-ended three people so far that slammed on their brakes (in Hondo and Castroville) as soon as the green light went dark, the first time was on a rainy day in a loaded semi.
If only some towns are going to do the cam thing they need to send out bumper stickers that say “I slam on my brakes for yellow!”
Also the handsfree thing probably makes it more dangerous for other drivers who have learned that when you see someone with their hand by their ear, that the’ll be driving worse than a drunk.
@Kurt P: LOL Yeah folks get dead everyday for a lack of common sense, I don’t like it that those folks take the innocent with them, but I am a believer in intelligent design and I believe all things are in GODS hands, I would much rather see our legislators work to keep criminals and gang bangers off the streets rather than telling us what’s bad for us… Smoking might be bad, Cell phones while driving might be bad, Child rapists, Murderers, Rapists in general, thieves and Gang members ARE Bad, yet we do nothing more than slap them on the wrist and send them out to re commit.
Most of the time while following someone who is driving like a complete idiot, I find that they are talking on their cell phone and can’t manage to pay attention to the road. This just pisses me off.
I am one that CAN drive and talk at the same time, but this new law might be nice. Maybe. Unfortunately, most folks will either be using speaker phones or bumbling around in their car to figure out how to answer that call with their new blue tooth device. Even worse will be the ones trying to figure out how to dial a call while using the fancy new wireless device.
So this might actually make things worse instead of better.
Bottom line: I don’t think this new law will make it any safer, and I think a lot of people will be breaking it anyway.