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Texting while driving, red-light cameras and party buses are among the targets of new driving-related laws that took effect yesterday in California.
Among the bills passed by the state Legislature and signed into law this year by Gov. Jerry Brown is a new law permitting drivers to text while driving provided they are not using their fingers, California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Fran Clader said.
The law, Assembly Bill 1536, authored by Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, amends the existing law that prohibits drivers from holding a
cellphone in a car. It allows motorists to use voice-activated, hands-free devices to dictate, send or listen to text messages, Clader said.
State law already allowed hands-free verbal calling, but the new one makes it legal to use software applications to dictate texts or listen to incoming written texts that the device “reads” aloud, Clader said.
“This allows you to use any voice-activated device so you don’t have to type to text,” Clader said.
Drivers under 18 are still not permitted to use any type of cellphone in a vehicle, she said. Under the law, drivers will be allowed to touch their phones to activate or deactivate the hands-free functions.
Another new law, Senate Bill 1303, by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, deals with cameras installed by local law enforcement agencies that take pictures of the license plates of cars running red lights, Clader said. The drivers later receive citations by mail.
Under the new rules, agencies using the red-light cameras have to put up signs within 200 feet of the intersections where they are located announcing the cameras’ presence, make a public statement about each camera, and issue only warnings to violators for the first 30 days after
installation, Clader said.
“This is so the motorist is aware that there is a red light camera operating there,” Clader said.
Simitian, in a letter he sent this year and posted on his website urging Brown to sign the bill, complained that sometimes “cameras have clearly been installed to raise revenue, rather than protect public safety.”
AB 2020, by Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, will remove the right of people arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs
to opt for a urine test, making only a blood test available to them, Clader said.
Another law, AB 45 by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, takes aim at charter-party vehicles such as limos and buses. It will require that the carrier have a chaperone age 25 or older in the vehicle if any passengers will be drinking to ensure that no minors are given alcohol. Both the
chaperone and the carrier will be held responsible for any violations.
Hill has said that he drafted the bill back in 2010 in memory of Brett Studebaker, 19, of Burlingame, who died when he crashed his car earlier that year after being allowed to drink on a party bus even though he was underage.
The issue of chartered party buses received additional attention last July when 25-year-old Santa Cruz resident Natasha Noland was killed on
Highway 17 after apparently falling out a party bus during a fight with another partygoer after consuming alcohol.
Jeff Burbank, Bay City News
By
Jeff Burbank, Bay City News
By
No Cell Phones, no texting, just keep your eyes on the road, this new law is a joke, whey can’t people wait until they park to use cell phones, the only ones that should be on the phone in a car is a non driver Ambulance drivers or the Police and Fire Depts.
We drove for a hundred years without the need for a cell phone, lets all wake up before more are killed on the road because of cell phone use.
I agree with the new texting law. Pressing a few buttons is no different than adjusting your radio while driving or pressing a few keys on a gps device. Anything more than that is definitely unsafe. So allowing a driver to touch a cell phone to use the hands-free features is the right thing. Noted though, it doesn’t mean those aforementioned activities can be accomplished safely for all drivers or all circumstances… thus it must be left to the driver’s discretion for when those activities can be done safely. The alternative is to ban everything outright … I dont believe that makes sense though.
I do not agree with the leniancy allowed for redlight runners. A red light is a red light, and always means stop. You already get a pre-warning with the amber ligh, which also means stop.
Red light running has got completely out of hand.
This legislation missed the real abuse of these devices as a revenue source rather than to enhance safety.
Some cities install these, then set the Yellow light time to a minimum, making it tricky to stop in time when the light goes Yellow. You must be ready to slam on those brakes as you approach the intersection, or slam on the accelerator if you are too close to stop. This hardly makes for a safer intersection.
Some cities have even lowered the speed limit on the road by 5 MPH because this allows them to use an even shorter Yellow light time.
This is the real problem that should be corrected via legislation, not lack of warning for drivers who are in the habit of running Red lights, and want to be warned of these automatic ticketing cameras.
I was talking about the 30 day rule, after the cameras are installed. Only being allowed to issue a warning.
It’s not really the same as adjusting the radio. Your cell phone is in your pocket. So you’ve got to take it out of your pocket and fiddle with little tiny buttons and try to read a little message. Try doing that while making a turn through an intersection. No, it’s not the same as adjusting the volume on your car radio.
I salute the red-light-camera law.
If your purpose is public safety, then you have to let people know you are looking.
Reminders work better than punishment, unless, of course, you are running a squeeze to raise revenue, no?
Mike
Allen..well said…finally a voice of reason in PTown..bravo.
Sen. Simitian’s SB 1303 – an “Industry” bill – also standardizes the form used for the fake red light camera tickets many Bay Area police departments mail out.
The fake tickets, also called Snitch Tickets, are a phishing device designed to fool the registered owner into identifying the actual driver of the car. (Citrus Hts, Daly City, Elk Grove, Hayward, Marysville, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Modesto, Newark, Redding, San Mateo, San Leandro, South SF and Stockton use them.) Snitch Tickets have not been filed with the court, so they don’t say “Notice to Appear,” don’t have the court’s addr. and phone #, and usually say (on the back, in small letters), “Do not contact the court about this notice.” Since they have NOT been filed with the court, they have no legal weight whatsoever. If you need more info about Snitch Tickets, Google the term.
In my judgement, one of the biggest menaces to society is the Party Bus. Putting an end to these is a fine idea. I’ve seen too many Section Eight types cavorting all over the county in them. First the blanket the neighborhood selling illicit bake goods, then they use their swindled profits to whoop it up in the party busses.
I have started my new reminder…when the light turns green, I honk in a NY minute, to remind the ‘texter’ to move….focus on the job at hand!!! If you’re sitting at the wheel, stay focused !
QUESTION to the city. Have all new ‘traffic studies’ have been done to allow for speedy traffic flow to continue thru intersections. These days of driver texting, we lose about 2 cars per light because of front car delay…..the lead car…..is texting, thus delaying the restarting of flow. That first car better know, we are all watching if they’re off the line in a timely manner….expect the horn, if not. Move it ! We’re watching. Put the damn phone down!
I must comment on this as I see so much of it every day. I work as a school crossing guard and I see so many people on cell phones, texting, every single day. The problem has not improved at all from my viewpoint. Often times when someone toots their car horn it is because the person in front of them is looking down, texting. The other problem I see is not coming to a full stop at a stop sign, but going through it as if it says “yield”. I call them “Hollywood Stops”. Now mind you, I am crossing children to and from school at a dangerous intersection. I would love to see more police presence watching for these offenders whenever they can be there.