from the does-it-matter-which-side? dept.
France bans smartphone use in cars even when you pull over
Road deaths have been on the rise lately in France and with nothing much else to pin it on, authorities are going after scofflaw drivers who text or call. It's now illegal to hold your phone on public roads even when you're pulled over to the side of the road, whether you're blocking traffic or not, Le Figaro reports. The high court ruling means that taking what some consider to be a safe step -- pulling over to talk on the phone -- could still result in points and a fine of 135 euros.
Rather create a new law, the ruling has clarified exactly what it means to be "circulating in traffic." Now, it's not enough to pull over and cut the motor in order to use your phone; you have to be parked in a designated spot. When you've had an accident or breakdown, however, you are allowed to call or text.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:11AM
it's easiest to be a law enforcement official when everybody is breaking multiple laws all the time.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:17AM (1 child)
I wasn't texting, officier, I was commenting at SoylentNews!
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday February 08 2018, @10:51AM
Monsieur Coward, is it? Step out of the car, sir.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:21AM (1 child)
So you're still allowed to call 112 when your car breaks down and a deranged maniac is smashing the windows with a crowbar?
(Score: 2, Touché) by RedIsNotGreen on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:46AM
Yes, you are still allowed to use your phone in case of an emergency.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:31AM
Unless I'm missing something, this should be pretty easy to work around. All you need is a cellphone mount for your car. Keep the phone on the mount, and then you can call or text all you want, just as long as you're not holding the phone in your hand.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jelizondo on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:39AM (6 children)
Not in France, but the situation is similar. I was standing with the engine running on a 'No Parking' zone and some officer gave a hard time, I said I'm standing not parked but he would not buy it.
So now I could park in France anywhere and point to the law: I'm circulating in traffic officer! The Appeals Judge said so! (1)
(1)'Cour de cassation' says Le Figaro which I translated as an appeals judge, might be wrong.
(Score: 5, Touché) by RedIsNotGreen on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:49AM
Sorry, it only counts as circulating in traffic if you're also on the phone at the time.
(Score: 5, Informative) by bob_super on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:50AM (4 children)
"cour de cassation" is one of three supreme courts. The short version is they render judgement based on the origin of the case. (bonus: badly written laws can be appealed by the opposition directly to one of those courts, without having to find someone with standing and waste years)
What Americans may be missing is the fact that Southern Europeans WILL stop their car and block traffic when they feel the need. Because there are tolerances to "stopping" vs "parking", it can quickly get obnoxious when someone "just stopped to call someone, they're about to come down"...
It's not really about safety, it's probably about antisocial behaviors...
(Score: 1) by jelizondo on Wednesday February 07 2018, @04:47AM (3 children)
Thank you for the clarification. I happen to be lawyer but not a French one! So I'm not familiar with the judiciary there and tried to translate it to the U.S. system knowing that my knowledge of both the language and the system is poor.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday February 07 2018, @07:50AM
Seems to me the biggest thing is civil law vs common law.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday February 08 2018, @10:53AM (1 child)
Small blessings - you'll be second against the wall when the revolution comes.
(Score: 1) by jelizondo on Thursday February 08 2018, @09:37PM
I really need to pee, could I go against the wall first?
I happen to be an engineer first, so the revolutionaries will find, as Mao did, that alive we're worth quite more than dead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:46AM
Does anybody have to ask why people still want to come to the States? How unfortunate that now there is no escape! We are rats in a barrel, and it shows! We had paradise, and now look... We are turning the planet into a gray slum, a massive garbage barge... Sad!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @01:57AM
When in France, I'll pull my car under.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by DonkeyChan on Wednesday February 07 2018, @02:01AM (8 children)
This is so people can't use their smart phones while being pulled over to record the cops.
There is ZERO reason otherwise to prevent a person in a stopped and safely moored vehicle to not use their device.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday February 07 2018, @02:32AM (7 children)
The issue is that stopped "safely", for some drivers means "wherever I damn please" even if that means blocking traffic.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday February 07 2018, @03:11AM
Then the issue should be about stopping in a bad place and dealt with appropriately. After all, cell phones aren't the only reason people can stop wherever.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Wednesday February 07 2018, @04:49AM (3 children)
Go back and read TFS.
Safety doesn't enter into it at all. Neither does blocking.
Its just a matter of people pulling over to talk on the phone, which perhaps causes a slow down of adjacent traffic, even if not blocking, even if safely off the roadway.
There might be a safety concern with any stopped vehicle. Lots of cars get rammed while pulled over. But I suspect its mostly about police micro-managing people's lives just because they can.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @05:05AM
I see this as being the French solution to the same irritation we have when we are all queued up behind the register at our local fast food joint, and one ignoramus being served accepts a phone call, and proceeds yapping while everyone else is waiting... and probably thinking about taking that coot's phone and ramming it up his, well, 'nuff said.
Do that kind of crap on a French road and get a ticket.
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday February 07 2018, @12:51PM (1 child)
Likely they need money, so here comes the sin taxes.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday February 07 2018, @05:50PM
I guess the only people going to heaven are the barbarians then, 'cause we all talk on the phone. Sometimes even in the car.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Wednesday February 07 2018, @03:06PM
In which case book them for causing an obstruction, whether they're on the phone or not.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday February 07 2018, @09:32PM
Then the laws covering stopping in an unsafe / unauthorized place should apply.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Wednesday February 07 2018, @02:16AM (2 children)
if it's still ok to eat, read, makeup and shave while driving. Note that I did not mention receiving carnal pleasures.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday February 07 2018, @03:01AM
Four words: World According to Garp. [livejournal.com]
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Wednesday February 07 2018, @09:26AM
This is France. The police can fine you on the spot if you are NOT receiving carnal pleasures while driving.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @04:56AM (4 children)
In France, some states in the US, and others, it is illegal to use a phone for calls or texts while driving or stopped on the side of the road. Some states in AU take it further, not allowed to use your phone as a GPS even with it laying on the seat next to you, it has to be in a mount.
And, yet, car entertainment systems are all going touch screen now, and there are even ones that will stream movies.
I kinda doubt that having the touch screen device permanently mounted makes much of a difference for safety.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday February 07 2018, @12:50PM (1 child)
It does make a big positive difference, maybe not all the way to "safe," but it is much better than a device that must be held securely in one hand, touch-operated with another and can slide around / fall in between or under the seats etc. if not properly held.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @08:31PM
Mr. President, is that you? My hands aren't tiny, so I don't need two to use my phone. I also don't drive like an asshole so it doesn't slide off my lap if I put it there.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @08:27PM
She screamed. Oh, yes, she screamed. In response, the sound of little boys cheering was heard. Chairs. A tile floor. A chalk board. It was a classroom.
The man was vigorously moving his hips and smashing his fist into the woman's face. It might be more correct to say that he could stop neither his fists nor his hips. The woman screamed for help. However, the children only cheered. Rather than caring about the woman's well-being, it would be more accurate to say that the boys were actively cheering for her demise.
Every single time the fist collided with the woman, mankind took a microscopic step forward towards a future where men's rights were respected. The children understood this, which is why they were so excited. A bright future awaited them.
When silence finally descended upon the woman, the children could no longer contain their excitement. Endless cheers and clapping were heard from within the classroom. The woman's motion had been utterly replaced by the children's desire for freedom.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @08:30PM
She screamed. Oh, she screamed. In response, the sound of little boys cheering was heard. Chairs. A tile floor. A chalk board. It was a classroom.
The man was vigorously moving his hips and slamming his fist into the woman's face. It might be more accurate to say that he could stop neither his fists nor his hips. The woman screamed for help. However, the children only cheered. Rather than caring about the woman's well-being, it would be more accurate to say that the boys were actively cheering for her demise.
Every time the fist collided with the woman, mankind took a microscopic step forward towards a future where men's rights were respected. The children knew this, which is why they were so excited. A bright future awaited them.
When silence finally descended upon the woman, the children could no longer contain their excitement. Endless cheers and clapping were heard from within the classroom. The woman's motion had been completely replaced by the children's desire for freedom.