Philadelphia Bans Use of Cell Phones while Driving

Philadelphia drivers put down that cell phone!  As of December 1, 2008 if you are caught driving while talking or texting on a cell phone there is price to pay.  Philadelphia Police officers will be pulling over drivers that are talking or texting on their cell phones.  For the month of November however only a warning will be issued.  Not only is the ban for drivers, it also includes bikers, rollerblades, skateboarders, and scooters!

The traffic citation will include a hefty $75 fine for those in violation.  Mayor Nutter actually passed this ban back in May 2009.  However, the ban was not enforced as it will be in the very near future.  The fact remains that if you are distracted while driving you are a danger to yourself and others on the road.  Drivers are encouraged however to use their hands free devices so that at least if they are talking while driving they have both hands on the wheel.

By talking and driving you are putting others lives on the line, that text message is not that important!  This is especially dangerous for teenage drivers as their entire lives revolve around text messaging.  According to the American Life Project, one quarter of teens say that they text while driving.

There are tons of studies proving that texting while driving is dangerous.  A recent Virginia Tech study says texters are 23 times more likely to have a crash.  Drivers young than 20 have the highest distracted-driving fatality rate among all age groups last year,  according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Drivers 20 to 29 ranked second.   A few suggestions to prevent teens and adults from texting while driving could range from leaving your phone off while driving to putting it in the trunk, anything to remove the temptation of answering the phone.

We’re all guilty of this to some degree; adults can become distracted just as easy.  As adults we think every phone call is an important and pressing emergency that just cannot wait.  Before cell phones we had to wait until we got home to return calls, waiting a few moments on the side of the road is nothing in comparison.  Parents need to set an example for their teens but not texting or talking while driving, make it a family rule if possible.  The bottom line is eventually law enforcement is going to step in if parents are not but adults can at least try and instill the precedent of not using the phone while driving in the car.

To find out more about how this law could affect auto insurance rates, please call our office or fill out a free Philadelphia Auto Insurance Quote online.

Tags: car accidents, cell phone, cell phones, philadelphia, philadelphia auto insurance, philadelphia car insurance

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Auto Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.