Canada's drivers may see a new $850 Nose-Picking ticket violation, almost double the $500 fine for mobile cell phone Distractive Driving
With Canada's recent ‘Distracted Driving’ law in effect, the law prohibits mobile cell phone use while driving in the Great North. The fine for Canadian 'Distracted Driving': it's a hefty one, up to $500. But Canadian politician Jim Bradlley wants to take it one step further for an offense he views as far more serious, even life-threatening.
Ontario transportation minister, Bradlley, was informing reporters of his pride in drafting the new 'Distracted Driving' legislation and new law when he dropped this bomb for the future:
“Sure talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous but there are many other activities occuring during driving that are just as dangerous, if not moreso. For example, the other day I was almost side-swiped by a man [driving] that was completely distracted while picking his nose, and I don’t mean just a nose scratch - he was in up to his knuckle”. Bradlley's description gives whole new meaning to Driving Under the Influence.
Continued Bradlley, "There has been testing done that has shown that picking your nose while driving is even more dangerous than using a [mobile] cell phone because of the high occurrences of physical injury while conducting this type of [nose-picking] behavior. I would like to see all types of distractions lead to a hefty fine, my advice for this particular [nose-picking] offense would be an $850 fine." Whoa. That's a serious fine related to lack of class and personal hygiene.
And who knew that nose-picking could so easily lead to privacy concerns, particularly considering when it's being done in a public place. One Canadian politican finds Bradlley's comments disconcerting, citing rights to privacy as an issue: “Everyone should realize there is no place this [Canadian] government will not go intruding into private lives,” Conservative MPP Randy Hillier said. “What is next? No eating broccoli with dinner due to the possibility of passing of gas into the atmosphere thereby increasing global warming?” Those Canadian politicians are certainly straight to the point, no holds barred. Who knew nose-picking could be at the core of such serious political questions.
Experts question just how effective new distracted driving laws truly are in permanently changing driver habits. After distracted driving law went into effect in New York, an initial reduction in mobile cell phone use was back to pre-ban rates in the state within just one year. There's obviously no question as to just how much revenue those mobile cell phone bans on drivers are, bringing in money by the forkload to U.S. states.
Canada's automobile insurance industry says the new mobile cell phone laws are a good first step in making Distracted Driving socially unacceptable. Yeah, and higher prices on cigarettes worldwide have definitely worked to make smoking socially unacceptable. And of course the automobile insurance industry doesn't back any factor that potentially reduces car accidents, right? Bill Crespen, at Walden’s Insurance said, “personally we would like to see all distractions result in large fines, whether it is picking your nose, applying make-up or talking on a cell phone - they can all potentially kill you”.
The new Canadian Nose-Picking law beats U.S. mobile cell phone driving laws by a mile. A jurisdiction-wide ban on driving while talking on a mobile, handheld cell phone is in place in seven states including California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington as well as the District of Columbia.
Different U.S. states take different approaches with distracted driving-based laws, but the commonality between all U.S. states seems to be the steadily-increasing flow of revenue from the new distracted driving laws.
That's right, those little (non-optional) extras can take your new California fine to under two hundred bucks. But that's the least of it, cuz there's probably a whole lot more in store when dealing with the state's finest: the policeman whom pulls you over.
In California, for instance, police, under the guise of the Wireless Communications Device Law, can use the mobile cell phone law as cause to pull a driver over. Once you're over, it might be over, in terms of expense. Violation of the cell phone law can be just the beginning. Using the mobile cell phone law as reason to stop a driver initially, police can then ticket the driver for whatever else they see (or don't see, depending on how bad your luck is and, unfortunately, how bad the cop is). So you might just end up with multiple tickets in heftier amounts than that first '$20' (but don't feel so bad, it was really $60, the law was just trying to make you feel better with hidden fees).
Utah has named the mobile cell phone offense 'Careless Driving' and, under Utah law, driver offense can only be committed and cited if a driver is talking on a mobile cell phone while also committing some other moving violation. And that moving violation's gotta be a violation other than speeding.
Mobile cell phone usage by drivers is illegal while driving a school bus in 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Ironically, while drivers can't make mobile cell phone calls while driving in 17 states and while texting is banned for all drivers in 19 U.S. states, only the state of Texas bans school bus drivers from texting while driving.
Mobile text messaging use, while driving, is banned for all drivers in 19 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Novice drivers are banned from texting in 9 states including Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and West Virginia.