Rubber Duck banned from txt

Drivers of vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds have been banned from sending text messages while driving in the US, in a move welcomed by everyone. The new rule, which comes from from the US Department of Transport, applies to commercial trucks and buses. If you're driving your rig for fun then you're OK to text and …

[The Fuzzy Wotnot]

Pretty useless

All very well putting laws in, but without a strong police presence they are as good as worthless. Lost count the number times some numpty has almost collided with me because they only have one hand free to drive with.

[Samuel Williams]

10,000 pounds, is that right?

If my basic maths serves,10k pounds is only just over 4.5 metric tonnes: which probably includes most of those lovely SUVs once loaded with suitably obese passengers.

[DanielC]

who...

"Drivers of vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds have been banned from sending text messages while driving in the US, in a move welcomed by everyone."

Is that the driver that is 10,000 pounds or the vehicle that is over 10,000 pounds?

If it is the driver... it would be understandable as it it America!

[Bilgepipe]

Title

Yeah, no fat people over in the good ole UK, eh?

[James 6]

Fat teeth.

Of course there are fat people in the UK, but it's not our stereotype. Don't forget though, all us Brits have bad teeth.

[LuMan]

Undue care and attention?

Really?? At what point do care and attention become undue while driving? I thought they'd be due all the time.

Still, I did learn to drive some time ago....

[Danny 14]

err

when you hit the tree?

[Captain Save-a-ho]

You said a mouthful

"but in most cases it's easier for legislature to pass laws than enforce the existing ones"

They wouldn't have jobs otherwise! It's no wonder people want to group polictians at the bottom of the ocean with lawyers and preachers,.

[Nexox Enigma]

10,000lbs?

I've driven plenty of vehicles over 10,000lbs - a stock, empty Ford F250 Crew Cab weighs in at something like 12,000lbs, which is pretty typical for pickup trucks of that size. And lots of people tend to drive trucks like that all the time, not just for construction jobs or hauling firewood like they show in the commercials. I'm pretty sure my basic license will allow me to drive anything up to 14,000 lbs gross vehicle weight, and that's not including a trailer.

But I've already seen plenty of weight laws (A nearby freeway doesn't allow trucks over some small number of tons, which means the cops should be pulling over every large pickup truck and SUV) that are constantly ignored for non-commercial vehicles.

[Anonymous Coward]

And they do...

Drive from San Diego to LA late in the evenings and you WILL see all the big trucks being pulled over at the weighing stations.

[Ben 42]

More like half that

An F-250 is more like 6-7000lbs empty, and even fully loaded comes in at <10000. And in any case this law only applies to commercial vehicles, not that it shouldn't apply to everyone. Why anyone is allowed to do this while driving is beyond me.

[Tom Samplonius]

Umm, what?

A Ford F250 _fully loaded_ is 10,000 pounds. An empty F250 crew cab would be far less, so I don't know where you are getting your figures of 12,000 pounds empty.

The Ford F Super Duty is the only Ford F series that can carry over 10,000 pounds, and I would assume these would all be commercial vehicles.

[Andus McCoatover]

7.5 tonnes?

I wondered why, when I exchanged my British licence* (and the stupid counterpart, natch) that I got 'awarded' a C1 (=7.5t§). Now I know. I've become a 'Rubber Duckie', AKA 'Good Buddy'.

So, the Americans can use a "Rubber Duck" CB while driving? In Britain, you get serious points on your licence for that. In Finland, theoretically same, but no-one really cares. Ingrained into the cultures of each country, I guess.

I managed to ride my moped (on a footpath - we're allowed to here) whilst using my netbook to look up where I was going on a map-page. Throttle locked, steering by weight-shift, like I flew microlights, using Elisa 3G modem on the lappie. Doddle.

Before some Elf and Safty jobsworth chips in...No-one bothered me - in a country this size, and with only 5,5 million inhabitants (most are usually safely in the pub in the afternoon - particularly on dole-payday) who is there to hit??

*Counterpart? WTF?? When I was last nicked for neglecting my seat-belt, they just used a barcode-reader, computer link showed what I earned, and plod took 50 quid off me. Instantly. Lotta do'nuts for that money, of course.

§ - Never driven anything like that 7,5 tonner before. EVER!! First and last time, Tampere-Oulu, about 350Km. Middle of February, -20, icy. Moving house - I had the cat (I mean tabby - other cat was driving ahead in her own car) in the cab. Had to wrap her (tabby) in my coat, because the heater had failed. Left me with a t-shirt. It was about -20, and I was sliding all over the road. 6 hours of that. At the end, I felt l'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Yet, I have a licence for it. But not the use of a CB...

[Graham Marsden]

"who is there to hit??"

The person out for a walk, minding their own business who doesn't expect some prat to be riding along using a netbook instead of looking where they're going!

(I'm sure you've heard the expression "Sorry, Mate, I didn't see you...")

[Richard Porter]

7.5 tons?

7.5 tons is 16,800lb so well over the 10,000lb mark. And your car licence allows you to drive vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes not tons.

[Tecstio]

El Reg Fail

If hauling 7.5 tons "on a car licence" (cat B), then you'd be driving WITHOUT a licence. A "car licence" only permits upto 3.5 tonnes (or upto 4.25 in specific circumstances).

Although drivers who passed their test before January 1997 can.

[Fred 4]

I dont understand...

all (or at least 99%) of all cell phones (and other mobile devices) have GPS (or something similar).

Make it a requirement - as part of the firmware/hardware of the phone.

if ((current phone speed > 10mph) or (current phone speed > 16kph)) & (call destination # emergency) then

disable phone *

else

enable phone

end if

* disable phone = no incoming calls -> voice mail, or texts. Also no outgoing calls or texts.

there is even an iPhone app that does this - although I think the speed is only 5 mph (8 kph).

This resolves - nearly all issues with (moving) phone use. For the last moving phone use : walking while texting/talking - Darwin steps in here, and resolves this issue - and very narrowly - those unfit to talk and walk - dont do so for very long.

- cant call or text while driving, unless traffic is literally stopped

- cant call or text while on public transit, removing the issue of having to listen some trailer park 3 toothed idiot's daily soap opera of a life; while trying to get to/from work.

- people on the other end cant hear the phone bounce off the nearest wall it is thrown against, by some person properly feed up with any of the above scenarios.

The only down side (if you can call it that), it that passengers in a private vehicle will have too - OMG - actually talk to each other!!!!

[Wommit]

This app obviously would

have a special routine which would test to see if you're a passenger and not the driver? Or on a train, or a bus.

While use of a mobile on a train is unfriendly, I don't _think_ it's illegal (yet.)

Your suggestion has too many holes in it to enumerate.

[teebie]

There is more than one brand of scanning machinee

Was the telephone invented before, or after, public transport?

[Ian Ferguson]

Who cares about weight?

I don't see why anybody in charge of a vehicle should need to text, whether it's a bicycle or a juggernaut.

If it's that important, I'm sure you can pull over.

[Anonymous Coward]

Title, dammit

While I have some sympathy for the people opposed to the constant clamor for new laws or stiffer penalties, I have to disagree on this one. While offenders could be charged with "undue car and attention" this accomplishes two things:

It is not necessary to prove in court each time that texting or using a phone while driving is unlawful.

It makes it perfectly clear to the vast number of current drivers who think using those devices while driving is okay that it is not okay.

Without this law it remains to individual jurisdictions to educate by enforcement. This makes it clear.

[phoenix]

Harder

Lets go for a new one dangerous and negligent driving to clober this one. DWDCA is good for not looking where you are going but using a device such a mobile (unless handsfree) whilst driving should have stiffer penalty. This would also cover smoking drinking (non alcohol), eating and reading the weight of the vehicle is totally irrelivent

[Big-nosed Pengie]

10,000 pounds

Sounds pretty cheap for a truck.

[Anonymous Coward]

To be 16

Growing up in the 60's and 70's in California, part of official (like in life) graduation the ability to smoke, talk on a cb, listen to the boom box, pass (and even roll) a doobie (pipes are safer) and hunt deer with 6 rifles 4 handguns, and a spotlight all with a beer between the legs.

[fishcakes]

@fred4

can't use it to contact your daughter who's in a car with her friends

can't use your phone when you're a passenger in a car

can't use your phone when you're in a cab trying to find out directions to your mate's place

can't use in-car kits to call ahead to let people know you're runnning late

can't use it on the train to let people know when to pick you up from the station

... and it doesn't fix the problem where idiots sat at the traffic lights are too busy texting to realise that the cars ahead have moved on and the lights are changing back to red.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Fred 4 (28th January 2010 01:03 GMT)

You obviously move in well-heeled circles if 99% of the phones you encounter are GPS enabled. Certainly this isn’t the case in the shops: I bought a new phone a couple of weeks ago and none that I looked at had this feature.

In my lowly circles being in a car with driver driving, account manager on phone to confirm latest offers, deployment manager on phone to customer to inform of delayed ETA is not unusually but can necessary.

Why is texting on a train bad?

Would you disable data? My satnav uses my phone to download traffic information.

Sorry to disagree but there seem to be too many people rushing to disable or enforce limits other peoples’ way of living because it doesn’t fit their own view of the world.

Those that participate in loud phone calls on the bus or train are rude, I agree; but that does not give us the right to micro-manage their lives.

[Mike Bird 1]

Multi-tasking

You can do

a) DRIVE (a multitasking action requiring co-ordination of vusual and audiatory input) plus complex control management.

b) SIT in your CAR with the ENGINE OFF and use your PHONE.

You cannot

c) do both at the same time.

[markp 1]

how about bluetooth headsets then?

at least, when they're working properly. getting mine to a state where i'm comfortable with it was probably the period when i was most dangerous...

but now just bip the button on your earpiece and from there on out it's all voice control, or that button again, and it's as distracting as just talking to someone next to you, complete with breaks in the conversation where you have to deal with something needing a bit more concentration. my phone even has a built in, voice command accessible feature where it will read out received texts. though it's not quite sophisticated enough to offer a voice-rec text composition service...

[markp 1]

It's maybe a bit of repetition

But just to pull the weight-pedantry together...

lbs =/= kilos ..... 1 kg = 2.2 lb

So 7.5 tonnes = 16800 lbs (old joe random car license - B1?)

3.5 tonnes = 7700 lbs (max train weight of what I can legally drive in the UK on my post-97 class B license, unless I go take a starter level HGV test to get up to 7.5)

10000 lbs = 4.5 tonnes or so. Which is a fairly porky vehicle for a private citizen to be running around in and probably a good point at which to make the distinction. The average family hatch is more like 2750lbs if not a fair bit lighter. You know one reason why such big bertha pickups are popular in the states? Tax breaks and reduced emissions-test requirements for commercials... but no limits on who can actually buy them with these benefits. The win in that regard far outweighs the extra fuel and servicing costs. (And even in the UK this is pretty much the case, but for other reasons - a 5+ year old petrol car, even a quite gutsy one will cost you far less to run when TCO is totted up than a new or nearly-new diesel)

Alles klar?

[Fred 4]

@ @ replies

> can't use it to contact your daughter who's in a car with her friends

and she (and her friends) cant be talking and texting while driving.

depending on the device, you can track her (at least the phone's) location.

and if I might ask - how did you do this before cell phones?

> can't use your phone when you're a passenger in a car

not an entirely bad thing - as I said - what a concept -- you might actually have to talk to the other people in the car with you!!!

>can't use your phone when you're in a cab trying to find out directions to your mate's place

true - but you could easily ask the cabbie to pull over while you do so.

>can't use in-car kits to call ahead to let people know you're runnning late

yes you can - if you are late a few extra seconds wont matter - pull over and call.

>can't use it on the train to let people know when to pick you up from the station

last I looked trains had a schedule - which you know (or friend can look up) before hand.

something like :'.... Tommy, the train get in at Whoster at 10:45am... see you there! Bye"

>.. and it doesn't fix the problem where idiots sat at the traffic lights are too busy texting to realise that the cars ahead have moved on and the lights are changing back to red.

true - but then a good shot on their rear bumper usually wakes them up ; )

>You obviously move in well-heeled circles if 99% of the phones you encounter are GPS enabled.

you sir are wrong (at least in the states) - ALL - cell phones as of 1999(?) are required to have GPS or similar location aware devices -- FOR EMERGENCY SERVICE location.

So.... while the phone may not have GPS enabled in such a manner that you (the user) can access it - it *IS* there, and it *IS* on as long as the phone is on.

>In my lowly circles being in a car with driver driving, account manager on phone to confirm latest offers, deployment manager on phone to customer to inform of delayed ETA is not unusually but can necessary.

and how did this work before cell phones?

with an auto shut off-- if you are delayed (you made an appointment, right?) you are likely stuck/stopped in traffic, and likely going slower than 10 mph/16kph. You can always pull over for 30 seconds and make the call.