"Distraction" law - what do you think?

[BlakJak]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story ... D=10353520

What do you think ?

I think this is farrrrr too vague and likely to be abused by the cops.

http://www.blakjak.net/node/411 has my thoughts.

The AA has the right attitude in this case I think....

[gordon77]

i think its a good idea but it needs to be more specific.
and getting done for changing a cd or changing radio station seems a little over the top to me getting involved in a conversation on a cell phone while driving is to me a lot more dangerous and shuold probably require fines but changing a cd....

[z|gen]

its a good idea, but can be abused quite easily, a friend of mine was killed earlier this year, when a lady took her eyes off the road to change the radio and swerved into the bike/shoulder lane and hit him while he was riding.

i change the channel when driving, but i have my remote setup in my car and know exactly where my buttons are, so i dont have to take my eyes off, will be interesting to see how it comes out

[scope]

changing cds i feel is way over the top

[rollas22]

changing cds i feel is way over the top

I agree thats over the top, but in all cicumstances is a little dangerous as well......
But what will be next????

[Si]

open ended laws prone to abuse.

The stupid thing is, they already have laws that can cover this. they just love the publicity.

i am sure if you were caught shaving or reading a book while driving you could get done for either reckless driving (on the spot fine) or dangerous driving (court + loss of lic).


on another note, they have 5 officers working on the stolen statue case on the east coast. while 600 incidents lay un-investigated in auckland.

police in this country really suck the fat one.

[TrouserFxGt]

so sneezing would be illegal then.

[bad20v]

I'm all for the banning of talking on cellphones while driving and have been for many years! I'm sick of the ignorant b#@tards that drive around in their own little world's talking on their cellphone's obivious to the rest of the traffic on the road. I have been almost hit several times by these idiots, usually they are driving 4wds, and even this morning I had to practically drive into a ditch to avoid being hit head on!!
The worse offenders are the ones driving manual transmissions that think they have three arms/hands and can hold a cellphone, turn the steering wheel and change gear at the same time. Haven't these idiots ever heard of a hands free car kit!!!
At least I have the brains that when I get a call on my cellphone, I will either ignore it or pull over to the side of the road to take the call.
Changing a CD or other things is a different story and shouldn't be grouped into the same catagory.

/end rant.

[gurutasker]

its a good idea, but can be abused quite easily, a friend of mine was killed earlier this year, when a lady took her eyes off the road to change the radio and swerved into the bike/shoulder lane and hit him while he was riding.

Was that the guy from HIBS? If so I think she got conviected not too long ago.

Police say a couple were recently discovered having sex while driving over the Harbour Bridge, and officers have stopped people who were receiving oral sex while driving.

Auckland harbour bridge... the spot was just too romantic not to do it

[BlakJak]

Funny I see more potential risk in a CD Change than I do in talking on a cellphone - for some people anyway...

[bad20v]

Funny I see more potential risk in a CD Change than I do in talking on a cellphone - for some people anyway...

Yeah, maybe if your CD stacker is in the backseat or boot.

[BlakJak]

I have a front-loader....

[bad20v]

Single or stacker?

[Alex B]

WTF does it matter , If you know your cd player well enough you dont even have to look at it when changing a cd. And most modern front stakers you just load em in like you do a single stacker.

[z|gen]

yeah, gurutasker, Matt Dryden from hibs, yeah she got convicted, still doesnt make at any less stupid, a conviction doesnt bring someone back from the dead does it.

[eightytrueno]

i think it is a good idea

i think changing a cd is a somewhat dangerous distraction, espeically if your cd is in a cd wallet and you have to look down a fair bit to find the right one, and use two hands to put them in / out. sure it would suck having this as a law, but it doesnt change the fact that it might be a good idea. i'm sure police would only fine / pull you over if it is obvious you are looking down and fumbling around - if you can do it easily with one hand and dont have to look down how are they even goin to know you are changing cd??

the cellphone one is good idea too. very distracting. however hands-free should be ok.

[FST4RD]

I think smoking in cars would be more of an issue....
I had a mate who dropped his smoke whilst driving and almost crashed whilst trying to find it while the smoke was burning into his leg.....

[gurutasker]

yeah, gurutasker, Matt Dryden from hibs, yeah she got convicted, still doesnt make at any less stupid, a conviction doesnt bring someone back from the dead does it.

Never said it wasn't stupid, I was going to point out that the conviction is a reactive law.. where is this distraction charge would be preventative, I'm for it.

[Dell'Orto]

I think smoking in cars would be more of an issue....
I had a mate who dropped his smoke whilst driving and almost crashed whilst trying to find it while the smoke was burning into his leg.....

Yup, my uncle wrote off his car years ago doing that....went to flick his smoke out the window, it flicked back in and landed on the back seat, in trying to grab it he went off a bank

[offensive]

haveta ban hot girls walking on sidewalks, i find them way to destracting when i drive.

police cars are distracting too