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Thursday, July 7, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.
SB 140 (Cell Phones and Driving)
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- Bill to ban cell phones, texting while driving gets final OK (06-04-2011)
Talking on a cellphone and texting while driving is, for the next few months, still legal in Nevada, even if it’s not advised.
A perception has spread — kindled by police and confirmed by an informal poll of typically well-informed colleagues and friends — that the ban, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval last month, took effect Friday.
Not so. The law doesn’t take effect until Oct. 1. Only then will police be able to pull over motorists and issue verbal warnings. Starting Jan. 1, police can issue tickets for talking without an earpiece or texting while driving.
If this is news to you, you’re not alone.
Metro Police tweeted last week that they would begin pulling over gabbing motorists Friday, the first day of the month.
That prompted a news release from the Nevada Public Safety Department, which oversees the Nevada Highway Patrol, that the law doesn’t go into effect until Oct. 1. Sandoval also tweeted the reminder.
Part of the confusion might have arisen from the fact there is no timetable in the bill about when it takes effect. Carson City veterans know that unless otherwise stated in legislation, new laws by default take effect Oct. 1.
Metro Officer Jay Rivera acknowledged an erroneous tweet was sent out, stating that the law was to take effect Friday. He said it was corrected within a couple of minutes.
He said officers on the street were never given the July 1 date, and no drivers were mistakenly stopped and given warnings.
He did note that Nevada has had “distracted driving” infractions on its books for years. That would include applying makeup, eating, tuning your radio or, of course, talking on your cellphone.
So what to do if Johnny Law erroneously pulls you over for talking on your cellphone?
Allen Lichtenstein, an American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada attorney, said: First, be polite; inform the officer that the law goes into effect Oct. 1; if the officer persists, politely get the name of the officer and badge number, and report to the department that officers are working with some bad information.
Do not — he repeats do not — think you can ignore the flashing lights.
“Nobody needs a confrontation on this,” he said. “It doesn’t help police. It certainly doesn’t help the citizen.”
He did note that Nevada has had "distracted driving" infractions on its books for years. That would include applying makeup, eating, tuning your radio or, of course, talking on your cellphone.
Then why did this law pass?
Hatched from the "no child left behind" mentality Nevadan motorists skilled in safe phone conversations will now be sent to the back of the class where their abilities can equally be reward as their unskilled counterparts.
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Its all about SAFETY of course. . . especially the safety of gov jobs and the $ this will bring in to help improve their pay checks and benefits, remember the gov and law enforcement are here too help. . . What will the response be in a couple of years when fatalities do not decrease due to this money grabbing bill. As noted in the article Nevada already has a distracted driving statute on the books that included texting and talking on a cell phone. The bill is another chance(excuse) for police to stop and harass and erode the few remaining liberty's(RIGHTS) we the people have that are guaranteed . . .to be secure in our persons and effects and unlawful search and seizure? How many lawmakers that voted yes on this will benefit from this legislation. . .not be ticketed for the very same infractions???
To Paul,
You have said exactly what I was thinking and put it into words very well. One other thing, shouldn't our insurance rates go down? I would rather pay the extra 5 dollars and use my phone, but we should get a credit for it.
It all started with seat-belts
I've seen it so many times. People on cell phones driving erratically..fast slow, no blinkers, swerving over the lane dividers. It's a good law. Hopefully they'll have big crackdowns and stop and ticket as many as possible. I've seen too many distracted drivers talking on their cell phones. They are a catastrophe waiting to happen.
contrary to earlier posts, your RIGHTS are not infringed upon.
you have the RIGHT to purchase a hands-free device so you don't KILL the rest of us.
are you too cheap to buy an earpiece? or are you so self-absorbed that you cannot live without texting while driving? could you not make a CALL instead of texting?
People don't have the sense God gave them. Just yesterday a lady was in the fast lane on I-15 N at the peak of traffic gabbing on her phone, she was holding up traffic going 55 mph and could have cared less! I drove by and wondered why she was going so slow and boom there was the cell phone.She could have been having high tea slow as she was going. The drivers are clueless in NV.
I got off on Spring Mtn going East and the light was green with two cars in front of me. The first car STOPS at the green light and the passenger gets out to get a construction cone. I was doing 45mph down towards the light and all of a sudden I had to screech to a halt for this IDIOT! What are people thinking???
"People don't have the sense God gave them. Just yesterday a lady was in the fast lane on I-15 N at the peak of traffic gabbing on her phone, she was holding up traffic going 55 mph and could have cared less! I drove by and wondered why she was going so slow and boom there was the cell phone.She could have been having high tea slow as she was going. The drivers are clueless in NV." - thekube
I might be wrong, but isn't the speed limit 55 MPH in many place on I15 along the Strip and downtown, especially in the construction zones?
They passed the same law in Billings, MT. Traffic accidents increased as people talking on their cell phones were distracted looking for police cars and ran into other cars.
boftx...
I-15 is PREDOMINATELY 65. Even behind the strip, in the resort corridor.
Regardless, going 55 in the "passing lane", or far left lane of the freeway, even in a 55 zone, is IMPEDING TRAFFIC, DANGEROUS, SELFISH, and DOWNRIGHT STUPID.
Doing so whilst talking away on your cell phone, and not giving a damn about the hundred-car lineup BEHIND YOU, proves you to be mentally deficient, IMO.
I am not positive, sir, but I THINK you can be cited for IMPEDING TRAFFIC for going 55 in the left lane of a 55 mph freeway/highway... you aren't supposed to "hang out" in the passing lane at your fricking leasure, any more than you are supposed to PASS PEOPLE on the RIGHT.
@ jt2ou > Seat belts do save lives, texting is dangerous especially in high density areas, I have never ever used texting while driving or sitting still, i just don't need or use it. I have used my cell phone driving here in Esmeralda County, one of if not the least most populated counties in Nevada.
To TomD1228, I've seen it too, and it's usually the Metro officers driving this way. But they have conveniently been exempted from this law.
How are the police going to see anyone talking on the phone when most windows are tinted dark enough you cannot see through them? I have been here just two months and have already had two cars almost run into me where the drivers were talking on the phone on 215. One woman came off an on ramp, crossed two lanes and came within inches of hitting me. Its no wonder my insurance rates are double here.
Well, I've been driving on my "hands free" system for over three years. I still feel distracted even though I have two hands on the wheel. Your mind is caught between the concentration of driving and listening, as the caller has no idea what you're facing with traffic.
When you chat with someone actually sitting in your car, the passenger can see the driving conditions as you do and appropriately dummy up when you change three lanes in less than 100 feet. I call that my "shut the mother-in-law up" move.
If I don't answer an incoming call, my recorded greeting states that I am either busy with another caller or I AM DRIVING and will call back as soon as possible. Anything urgent can wait at least until I safely pull over and park.
I was wondering why people kept talking while driving and now I know, they are just waiting for Oct 1st to stop.... /s
inform the officer that the law goes into effect Oct. 1; if the officer persists, politely get the name of the officer and badge number, and report to the department that officers are working with some bad information.
Yeah right. These so - called law men believe they can do whatever they want. If you don't want to be kidnapped by them beaten and tortured or killed - disappeared - then say nothing at all.
@fearNloathing...
"Your mind is caught between the concentration of driving and listening, as the caller has no idea what you're facing with traffic."
GREAT explanation.
It doesn't MATTER if you're a "good driver" or "smart" or a "multi-tasker"... it's ALL ABOUT THE WAY THE BRAIN IS WIRED.
If you think that you're "GIFTED" and able to do what others cannot; your EGO is winning the battle.
There's going to have to be changes in the way some people do business.
Cops aren't the only ones that drive around with computer equipment, cell phones and 2-way radios...
What will happen is that businesses will change their POLICY, but the de-facto PRACTICE will remain problematic, because, as opposed to police work, some people are paid by volume, volume, VOLUME! and/or feel the need to impress the powers that be with their apparent "efficiency"...
We all know this is gonna be tough to enforce, is in fact a redundant law, and that stuff like "heavily tinted windows" will inhibit law enforcement's ability to enforce. HOWEVER... the problem is SO WIDESPREAD and such a clear DANGER to folks traveling our highways & byways, that it would be IRRESPONSIBLE and FOOLISH not to try to reign it in.
I imagine a much simpler solution would be if people would simply turn the damn things off and drive!
But it's still ok and you will not be ticketed for blocking an intersection on LV Blvd with your car! They still just sit and watch.
Yes...we see you...enjoy your coffee.