Just in case the readership on this discussion board consists of more persons than just me(and on occasion, Michael Bates), it is appropriate for me to post on the subject of new laws targeting the specter of unsafe driving arising from cellular telephone use. I do so to demonstrate that my hypocrisy has limitations.
http://www.calgarysun.com/news/columnists/michael_platt/2009/08/11/10422141-sun.html
As you may recall, I have recently criticized police for engaging in tax collection in the guise of traffic safety:
http://andjusticeforall-calgary.blogspot.com/2009/08/proof-that-traffic-safety-enforcement.html
Though I am concerned about government adding yet another law to the books, and am rather perturbed that I will no longer be able to conduct business whilst sitting at the seemingly innumerable untimed red lights littering Calgary roads, I have to admit that talking on the phone or driving with my 5 month old puppy gleefully looking out the window from the comfort of my lap represents a definitive safety hazard. Unlike a great many laws, legislated by inept government officials trying to justify their salaried and pensionable existence on the back of an ever decreasing, yet highly taxed private industry, officials who lobbied for laws allowing police to genuinely target the root cause of distracted and ultimately unsafe driving have in my mind, legislated much needed additional powers for real traffic safety enforcement. Additionally, for those engaged in the much publicized “dial-a-dope” drug trafficking trade, watch out, for police can now stop you for talking on your cellular telephone.
Notwithstanding the benefits of this new legislation, I remind citizens, that with each law passed, government effectively equips itself with greater power to intrude upon the existence of any Canadian.
Put your feet on a park bench, you can talk to law enforcement. Drive to fast, talk to law enforcement. Have a cracked tail light, talk to law enforcement. Talk on your cell phone while operating a motor vehicle, talk to law enforcement. This list goes on and on and on….
Some laws, however, are necessary. If they are broken, it is proper to talk to law enforcement. So, I agree, drive while distracted – talk to law enforcement.
David G. Chow
Calgary Criminal Defence Lawyer
www.albertaimpaireddrivingdefence.com
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