Calling Dave Carter
David Limbaugh ·
Dec 17, 2010 at 4:02pm
Ok, Dave: I assume you've seen (from behind the wheel) this Reuters report that today the government proposed to prohibit commercial truck and bus drivers from using cell phones while behind the wheel.
The Transportation Department of Ray LaHood -- you know, the guy who wants to coerce you out of your car -- has to allow a 60-day comment period before the rule is finalized. So, LaHood has asked the Ricochet community for comment. Okay, that's not true. But I will ask Dave (and everyone else) whether this is a good thing or unwarranted government intermeddling.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Calling Dave Carter
Even given the extreme elasticity of the Commerce Clause, this is a huge stretch.
This is a Tenth Amendment issue. If Missouri doesn't want Dave to talk while he drives, fine. But it's not a federal issue.
Jun '10
Re: Calling Dave Carter
It's a great concept...fill our prisons with criminal violators of "no talking while driving" laws. In typical fashion, governments are behind technology. Nearly every car manufactured today is equipped with hands-free blue tooth capability. If you can't drive and talk safely using blue tooth, how can you drive and talk safely with a passenger? Texting while driving is insane, but talking? This would be a law passed solely to fill government coffers with money from fines. To answer your question, Mr. Limbaugh, it is unwarranted government inter meddling.
And I don't care if it is a state or federal law, but Kenneth is correct, in my humble opinion, this is not a Federal issue.
Edited on Dec 17, 2010 at 4:24pmDec '10
Re: Calling Dave Carter
Truckers have been talking on CB radios for years. Is talking on a phone that much different?
Re: Calling Dave Carter
You know, David, while driving east from San Antonio today, I fiddled with the radio so I could hear your brother, and then reached for my mug to gulp down some coffee while reading a few of the billboards along the roadside. Then, while placing the mug back in its holder, I checked my speed, oil, and air pressure gauges before reaching for a doughnut. Then I checked all six mirrors to make sure the trailer was still back there before it occurred to me that some coffee would wash down that doughnut when Rush said something funny and, ...well looky at the colorful GPS! Of course everything mentioned above is, A) legal, and B) potentially distracting. So in one sense, LaHood's initiative is dopey. It's simply not possible to outlaw stupidity, otherwise DC would be a ghost town. Now granted, the feds are already deep in professional drivers' business, regulating how many hours we can drive or rest, how many hours we can work per week, requiring regular DOT physicals, conducting expensive background investigations before we can haul Hazmat loads, requiring us to keep logs of our activities, and much, much more. (Cont)
Re: Calling Dave Carter
(Cont) From a practical standpoint, a good portion of federal regulations create continuity across the country and keep us cross-country types from having to maintain 48 different types of log books and medical records, etc. But the cell phone issue strikes me as best handled at the state level. As mentioned by the above writers, a hands free device is no more distracting than talking with an actual passenger, or talking on the CB. Besides, you simply can't successfully outlaw idiocy, which shows up with and without cell phones on a regular basis. So I would say that this is unwarranted and inept meddling.
Edited on Dec 17, 2010 at 9:30pmOct '10
Re: Calling Dave Carter
Great line.
Aug '10
Re: Calling Dave Carter
I live in a jurisdiction where it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving.
It is quite ironic that political staffers I know, with some frequency, get chewed out by their employers for not answering their cell phones when they are driving.
To recap: The politicians who voted to make it illegal to use a cell phone while driving get angry at their staffers for not answering their cell phones when they are driving.