Allentown Wants To Ban Talking on Cell Phone While Driving

Remember when Bethlehem was going to ban texting and driving, but then everyone forgot about it? Well, now Allentown wants to band talking on your hand held phone and driving.

Good idea? Great fucking idea, actually. I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve seen people doing something stupid in their car, like running a red light, or taking a turn to wide, or not signaling and then I pass them and flip them off and spit on their car and lo and behold they are talking on their cell phones…

I can’t say I have never done this. I generally like to listen to AM radio and would much rather text at a stop light than take a call. I can understand how you might HAVE to take a call if you’re going somewhere long distance, but, for the most part, fucking pull over or something.

As great as this sounds, I don’t see it happening because, as the people go on to say, it’s nearly impossible to enforce.

Allentown leaders are set to join the legally murky debate over whether cities should bar drivers from using cell phones.

Councilman Mike Schlossberg and Mayor Ed Pawlowskischeduled a press conference for this morning to announce their proposal for a ban. They’re expected to be joined by Jacy Good, aMuhlenberg College alumna who’s become a high-profile proponent of outlawing the use of hand-held cell phones by drivers.

Good was critically injured and her parents were killed when their station wagon was involved in a three-vehicle wreck caused by another driver using a cell phone. That driver was cited for failing to obey a traffic signal but faced no major criminal charges. The 2008 crash in Berks County happened hours after Good graduated from the Allentown college.

It was unclear Tuesday exactly how sweeping a measure Schlossberg and Pawlowski will propose today and whether they think their proposal could survive possible legal challenges. While other cities have passed such laws, an upper Bucks County township saw its ban overturned by a judge.

Schlossberg did not return a message Tuesday, and city spokesman Mike Moore said neither the mayor nor the councilman wanted to discuss the proposed law until today.

Questions about how safe it is to use a cell phone while driving have been around for years. The state Department of Transportation reported that the use of hand-held cell phones contributed to 1,049 accidents statewide in 2008, including eight fatalities. Hands-free cell phone use contributed to 50 crashes and no deaths. Source

I just don’t see how enforcement can really be accomplished. Sure, if a cop sees you on your phone, you’re PHUCKED (get it? hahahah) but, no one will really listen to it until something huge happens, like some other person getting really hurt and by that time we’re all going to have the Jupiter Jack in our fucking cars anyway so this article is pointless.