FCC Proposes $48,000 Fine To Man Jamming Cellphones On Florida Interstate 427
New submitter freddieb writes: "An individual who had been jamming cellphone traffic on interstate 4 in Florida was located by FCC agents with the assistance of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputies. The individual had reportedly been jamming cellphone traffic on I-4 for two years. The FCC is now proposing a $48,000 fine for his actions. They say the jamming 'could and may have had disastrous consequences by precluding the use of cell phones to reach life-saving 9-1-1 services provided by police, ambulance, and fire departments.'"
Maybe blocked a roadside call... (Score:1, Interesting)
How many accidents could he have caused (Score:5, Interesting)
I hate when people talk, text and drive. You jam somebody, they are going to take the phone from their head and try to call again, or at least figure out what is going on. This is probably more distracting than just talking to somebody.
Re:Probably saved more lives with jamming (Score:5, Interesting)
There's a long list of reasons that a phone call is different from a passenger. That you can't think of any indicates a problem with you, not those who are seeking a ban to phones, but not passengers.
You just died. (Score:5, Interesting)
30 years ago you had to wait for someone to go get help, which could take quite a while. A lot more people died in car accidents back then. . .
Re:Probably saved more lives with jamming (Score:5, Interesting)
I dunno about you, but I noticed a long time ago that not all drivers are created equal nor are all drivers on cell phones. In fact, the crash studies that found drivers who get in accidents with cell phones also get in more accidents than normal without cell phones really hit that one home.
I really think there are just some people who are inattentative, and will let anything distract them from driving. Sure most people have their moments of distraction but I think most people are able to realize when things are distracting and are able to choose the situations in which they take those risks.
OTOH the people I know who are some of the worst drivers.... are constantly on their cell phone, and, seem to just not prioritize driving at all. This would be meaningless anecdote if not for the fact that.... this is exactly what studies have found... whereas most people drive more cautiously while on phones (often slower) this particular group of people actually take MORE risks while using the phone.
The thing is, the phone didn't cause this, accident rates have not significantly gone up....these people were always out there...they were just less identifiable.
Re:Probably saved more lives with jamming (Score:4, Interesting)
Sounds about right. There was a guy on NPR a while back who was talking about how the number of accidents per year hasn't gone down in a generation or two; completely ignoring how much population has increase (30% since just the 70s) and miles driven have gone up, and number of cars on the road etc.... but the raw unadjusted number....about the same... talk about having your head up your own ass.
I question the studies on this a bit (Score:4, Interesting)
I think that either drunk driving is not as dangerous as it is made out to be, or talking on the cellphone is not as dangerous as drunk driving. The reason is that cellphone use in cars has exploded (as it has in general), yet we continue to see a reduction in fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
If we go back to 1992, when cell phones were something owned only by the very few and expensive per minute so not used a lot, we have 1.75 deaths/100mvmt. In 2002, when they were getting fairly common, but still not all pervasive (about 49% of people had them), it was 1.51. In 2012 when practically everyone (95% or so) has them, and they do a lot and are the main means of communication, 1.14 (2012 is the last year I can find stats easily for both figures).
Likewise deaths per 100,000 people went down from 15.4, to 14.9, to 10.8.
So though people are driving as much as ever, and cellphones have gone from a rarity to something everyone has in two decades, we see traffic fatalities continue to drop.
That doesn't seem like it should be the case if indeed it is as dangerous as driving drunk. Either it isn't, or the dangers of drunken driving have been vastly overstated.
I'm not dismissing the studies out of hand, but I think that more need to be done, and more controls on things. I think there may be some bias creeping in since there seems to be this want among many researchers for cellphone use in cars to be a bad thing.
It makes me suspicious that something supposedly such a problem could experience such growth, and yet roads could get much safer.