[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Virginia HB181

Thu Mar 8 17:22:42 EST 2018

Rich
You beat me to the email.  Thanks

Best Regards, 73's

Dr Joe Palsa
ARRL Virginia Section Manager
State Government Liaison
K3WRY at ARRL.ORG.
804-350-2665

In a message dated 3/8/2018 4:55:18 PM Eastern Standard Time, ka4gfy at cox.net writes:

Latest as of 8 March @1600:
HB181 was sent back to the House for a vote after the Senate amended it.  HB181 FAILED to pass the House by a vote of 96 Nay (No) and 0 Yay (Yes).  Apparently, the House must not have liked anything the Senate added/deleted.  So, I don't see this going anywhere unless they can pull the proverbial rabbit of of the hat.
To ad to the drama, the General Assembly has a far more important task, the budget.  They leave the MOST important piece of legislation to the very end.
Rich, KA4GFY

On March 8, 2018 at 8:18 AM KA4GFY <ka4gfy at cox.net> wrote:
We do have distracted driving laws in place, but unless its really blatant, I doubt law enforcement officers are worried because they have far more important things to worry about.
The phone companies could easily put an end to texting and driving. Hit people where it hurts, their bank accounts.
The premise is simple. Phone companies track your phones. As you pass from one cell to another and text messaging is going on, or Candy Crush or Angry Birds, and the messages (keystrokes) are within a prescribed period of time, impose a cost to send text messages or transmissions sent while moving and make each successive text message exponentially more expense than the last one. When some of the worst offenders get their $5,000 bill, they will stop.
As for passengers who are texting, the phone companies can send them a code they have to put in to continue. A driver wouldn't be able to memorize the code and send it but a passenger could.
As for the Commonwealth's laws, $125 for the first offense is a joke. Let's make it $1,000 for the first, $2,500 for the second, $7,500 for the third and $10,000 and lose your license if you are stupid enough to do it four times.
Rich
On March 7, 2018 at 5:13 PM "Leon S.Ciereszko III" <n4tcw at yahoo.com> wrote:
Sounds like current distracted driving laws would be sufficient then....
Lee N4TCW
Where's Lee?
http://map.findu.com/n4tcw
 -----Original Message-----
 From: alexandriaradioclub-bounces at mailman.qth.net
 [mailto:alexandriaradioclub-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of KA4GFY
 Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2018 12:57 PM
 To: k3wry--- via AlexandriaRadioClub; ki4d at arrl.net; k3wry at aol.com
 Subject: Re: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Virginia HB181
If I have this right, the bill isn't necessarily outlawing use of your
 cellphone or radio, but the onus is on you to drive without being distracted
 from the activity.
Rich, KA4GFY
On March 7, 2018 at 1:23 PM k3wry--- via AlexandriaRadioClub
 <alexandriaradioclub at mailman.qth.net> wrote:We have been watching and meeting with committee members. It was agreed to
 let certain wording to go forward. The reason behind this is the General
 Assembly is determined to get some kind of biil out with reference to
 distracted drivers.
 The wording is such that an officer must actually witness distracted
 driving in progress. The distraction could while texting, talking on a
 phone, eating a burger, drinking a soda, or possibly using a microphone
 regardless of delivery driver, contractor or ham operator.
 The bill wording is not perfect, but if we pushed to include the words
 Amateur Radio exception, the committee would have been overwhelmed with
 lobbyist for construction companies, delivery services, etc.ccc which would
 have created a bigger problem and could have hurt ham radio more than
 helped.
Best Regards, 73's
Dr Joe Palsa
 ARRL Virginia Section Manager
 State Government Liaison
K3WRY at ARRL.ORG.
 804-350-2665
In a message dated 3/7/2018 11:16:33 AM Eastern Standard Time,
ka4gfy at cox.net writes:
I have been watching this one.
 It was stuck in committee for quite some time. The one saving grace is
 this year's General Assembly session is over on Saturday. Thank goodness!
 Rich
 On March 7, 2018 at 9:48 AM KI4D <ki4d at arrl.net> wrote:
 Rich - thanks for being so alert. This bill looks worse than the
 original SB74. Looks like we have work to do. I am wondering if Dr.
 Joe Palsa, K3WRY, Virginia Section Manager, knows about this one.
 Don, KI4D
 -----Original Message-----
 From: alexandriaradioclub-bounces at mailman.qth.net
 [mailto:alexandriaradioclub-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
 KA4GFY
 Sent: Wednesday, March 7, 2018 9:14 AM
 To: Alexandria Radio Club
 Subject: [Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] News Reporting at its "Best"
 I spotted a news article on WTOP's website this morning while riding
 the train to work concerning using "Handheld Personal Communications
 Devices"
 while driving.
 I thought this monster had been put to bed this session.
 So, I did some digging on the VA General Assembly's website on the
 bills related to to "Handheld Personal Communications Devices" while
 driving.
 The text in the news article obviously had not been updated since the
 original SB74, because article mentions exempting CB operators. Huh??
 The ONLY bill I saw that is still active that talks about handheld
 communications devices is HB181. If you read the text of the bill, it
 spends more time time talking about work zones and most importantly,
 if use of the communications device diverts attention from the
 operation of the vehicle, its a traffic infraction. It also talks
 about "certain" vehicles, but in true politician form, does not define
 "certain vehicles." It DOES say something about using a handheld radio
based device while participating in a disaster relief situation, but
NOTHING about exempting CB operators.
HB181 has passed the Senate and is headed back to the House.
And the news media wonders why nobody believes anything they say? They
need to get their facts straight before publishing.
73,
Rich, KA4GFY
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