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This past year, the VA assembly wasted their limited time together to pass a bill that ultimately was going to do nothing to help safety.  The only thing the bill did was to give the appearance of safety.

On July 1, a new law came into effect that made reading or writing a text message while driving illegal.  According to the statute, this is a secondary offense, meaning that as long as you’re not speeding, driving drunk, or doing anything else that would normally get you pulled over, you can’t be ticketed for reading or writing a text message.  Furthermore, the law is written such that it is next to impossible to enforce.  While it’s illegal to read a text message, it’s not illegal to read a news article on your iPhone.  It’s illegal to “manually enter multiple letters or text in the device as a means of communicating with another person” but nto illegal to look for a song on your iPod.

Even if you got pulled over, ticketed, and proven to have written or read a text message, the fine is only $20 for the first offense and $50 for any subsequent offenses.

Why did the VA assembly waste their time on a law that would do absolutely nothing?  Because it absolves them from doing nothing.  Parents worried that their little snowflakes will get killed by someone text messaging are now glad that there’s a law in place that makes this act illegal.  Nevermind the fact that it’s not going to be enforced.  When these politicians go up for re-election, they have something on their resume that says, “Hey, I care!”

Yeah, but you didn’t care enough to actually protect anyone.

One Response so far | Have Your Say!

1. rjjrdq
   August 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm #

   They have a similar law here in California. I see it ignored every day.