Originally Posted by
FBinNY
What about those on a bus or train? Or even passengers in a car?
Make all the laws you want, or apply technical fixes like this but it won't change anything. Cell phones are the latest issue and it's trendy to blame them for everything, but there has always been distracted driving. Things like trying to read a map, eating/drinking (coffee/soda), children/pets, tuning the radio/adjusting the a/c, applying makeup, daydreaming, even reading the morning paper propped up on the steering wheel.
If I had to name the single biggest problem, I'd say it's that we've socialized the cost of driving stupidity (or lack of skill) through insurance. Folks are nearly 100% insulated from the harm they cause. IMO the way to get drivers to be more responsible isn't through technology or criminalization, but by making them more exposed financially. Things like higher minimum deductibles, and/or co-insurance for liability (up to a limit) would lower driving costs for responsible drivers and put more of the cost of poor driving back on those who are the problem. I'm not saying it would magically solve the problem, but it would be a step in the right direction.
I dunno.
Usually, probability of "getting caught" is a much more important factor for behaviour modification than the severity of the punishment. You could have instant beheading with a rusty saw as punishment for an offense, but unless people acknowledge the possibility that it could happen to them, it won't matter.
So sure, a steep cost MIGHT reduce the number of repeat offenders, but it won't do much for the first timers. And among those, it'll hit equally hard regardless if it's an accident stemming from avoidable carelessness, or from truly unforeseeable circumstances.
A less painful, but more frequently applied correction will be kinder on the "innocents" and still provide good reason for the deliberate sinners to get their act together.