A $25 Fine

I agree about the higher fines. 25 and 30 bucks to a lot of people wont mean much to them. They will shrug it off and repeat the offense. So yes on higher fines. And maybe they should have a repeat offender fine. Like after three times double the fines. That might make them think twice.

Now that I think about it, maybe the reason for the very low fine amount is to increase the revenue for the state as opposed to completely making people change their ways. With a fine this low, it is likely that people will continue their behavior and will get caught for the same crime again, thus providing an increase in state revenue. I guess that is one way to defeat a budget deficit.

You are very right about the changes in technology. I just got my new phone a couple weeks ago and whereas when I got my prior phone two years ago, it was easy to find a phone that wasn't made specifically for texting, I found that this time it was a little bit more difficult to do.

I think that for those people that are the most concerned about it, they've already stopped doing this a long time ago. I'm not sure where this amount of a fine came from, but I also think it will deteur some of the activity in the long run.

The law is stated for texting while driving for adults and texting or talking on the phone while driving for teenagers. The thing is, if you are caught even dialing a number on the cellular phone, it can be considered as texting while you are driving.

Twenty five dollars really isn't that much at all for the vast majority of us, but we also do live in a state that is one of the poorest states in the country overall, so I think that or the desire for an increase in revenue is the reason that the fine is so low.

Driver's licenses here also have a points system that is attached to them. What I don't know, however, is if the texting law has any kind of points implications for those that are caught breaking the law.

Thank you so very much for looking up all of the information on your law in the UK. I knew that there were similar laws throughout the world but I didn't know the details of any of them.

Certainly was an expensive apple. Of course, I don't think that the police here would pull someone over for eating at this point in time.

True, if they had high enough quotas to reach, they wouldn't have much choice.

dorannmwin, In my country, every traffic offense has a certain number of demerit points where a driver will be disqualified from driving once he/she accumulates a total of 24 points within 2 years. When there are demerit points in the driver's portfolio, it will take 2 years from the 1st offense before these points could be wiped clean otherwise it will continue to accumulate till the maximum. Once disqualification takes place, errant drivers will be fined heavily and suspended from driving for 6 months to 1 year. They will need to be retested before he/she could regain the driving license back.

That is similar to the points system that we have on our driver's licenses. The main difference is that there are some moving offenses that only have a fine attached to them and not points deducted from your license.

I don't know that there are driver's license points penalties attached to this law, but I think that it should be something that is attached to the law because then they will be fined up front and it will also be reflected in their insurance premiums.

I have a bluetooth headset, and I love it. I don't really do a whole lot of talking on the phone while I am driving to begin with, but it is nice not to have to try to hold the phone when I do take a call while driving...

hands free texting?

I got a laugh out of the man who got the call from his wife reminding him of the new law. I have never texted while I was driving, but as soon as the law went into effect, I bought a new bluetooth so that I wouldn't even be ever using the handset at all while I was driving. I had an older hands free piece, but with the bluetooth, everything is completely hands free.

That could be true with teenagers. I don't know for sure though because for as long as I can remember, I've always worried about money in some way, shape or form.

I wouldn't mind having stronger fines and imprisonments for DUI's either. Drinking or texting - your mind is not on the primary function of driving at the time you kill or hurt someone. If a person is driving - drive. If the need to text or drink hits, get off the road until the effects pass. My disabled husband and disabled daughter ride with me wherever I go. Knowing folks are out there paying no attention to driving is terrifying. The same applies, by the way, to those putting on makeup, eating, fiddling with the radio, etc. Get the makeup and eating done in between driving. Set the radio before getting on the road and if you must change channels, get off the road. Too much trouble? Trust me, landing in the hospital is a lot more inconvenient. I got the wrong side of a trucker talking to his sweetie on the CB. I really didn't care, while in the hospital, whether he talked to her or another trucker or his base station. I just prayed I would walk again.

Well, a thousand dollars would be a higher fine than a drunk driver has to pay, so I would think that would be a little bit stiff. However, I am leaning more toward having fines for texting while driving to be equal to that of a DUI offense.

That is what needs to definitely happen in terms of truck drivers. I know that the law has been in effect for some time concerning commercial truck drivers and also bus drivers in our state. I also believe that the fines for commercial drivers is higher than that for those that are non-commercial drivers.

No, I think that there are people all over the world that are prone to very bad driving. And, I agree that it is a good thing that the put the guy away.

We have a problem in this country with truck drivers from Europe driving erratically because, to be honest, they are used to it in places like Poland where they obviously don't have the same laws over there. I am actually glad this guy got put away because it will send out a clear message to others that we're strict on this kind of behaviour on our roads. Having said that, though, I've seen local drivers behaving badly so it's not limited to Europeans.

I'll admit that I do talk on the phone while I am driving, but I've also just upgraded my bluetooth when I got a new phone a couple weeks ago. So, in a sense that is a non issue for me. I would not ever and have not ever sent text messages while I was driving.

You could be very right. I guess this really depends heavily on a person's mentality.

That is a good idea that it be cumulative. I also think that the law should also take into consideration the points system that we have in effect here.

With the number of people who still drive when banned (did you see about Brian Cooper, 33, and 17 bans) I'm thinking that bans aren't such a deterrent, and fines might be more effective. Our local paper constantly reports drivers who only get further bans because the jails are full.

I would never think of trying to send a text message while I was driving, but like you've said, there are a lot of people that don't use common sense at all.

You and me both. I made a comment at my mother's house about the idiots that text while they are driving only to be looked at dirty by my sister-in-law because it is something that she does.

The way that they are able to narrow down the teenager using the phone while driving from those that are adults on the phone while driving is because of the fact that there is a graduated licensing system here and a teenager doesn't have full driving rights until they are eighteen years old.

Well, I don't think that there would be any fine high enough to stop a person with no common sense from committing this kind of a crime.

I saw a video on youtube that I think that everyone that is fined for this kind of crime should have to watch because it really put everything into prospective. It was so hard to watch and it was all because one person was texting while they were driving. So, I think that there should be traffic school for offenders of texting while they are driving in addition to a fine.

I think that just to get people to quit texting while they are driving is a step in the right direction. However, I think that there are more laws that need to be changed.