Hardball Time!

 

Australia is suspending vehicle registration

 
RMS (Roads & Maritime Service), the New South Wales' governing body for transport, has begun suspending the vehicle registration of UberX drivers. 

After failing to deter drivers through prosecutions, with Uber covering fines and legal costs of its drivers, RMS has begun suspending the registration of the vehicles as it forces the vehicle off the road for three months.

 Under the NSW Passenger Transport Act, paid ride sharing is illegal, and this will see UberX drivers losing the use of their vehicle for both Uber and personal use.

Now only if this happened in the USA for texting while driving infractions.


The numbers illustrating the dangers of cell phone use while driving are downright startling. In fact, at any given time throughout the day, approximately 660,000 drivers are attempting to use their phones while behind the wheel of an automobile.

Smartphones have made it easy for us to stay connected at all times.

 But that can pose serious safety risks if someone decides to check his or her text messages, emails, phone calls, or any other mobile applications while driving.

• The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.
• Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.
• 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.
• Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.
• Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field.
• Texting while driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
• Of all cell phone related tasks, texting is by far the most dangerous activity.
• 94% of drivers support a ban on texting while driving.
• 74% of drivers support a ban on hand-held cell phone use.

Cell phone distraction rates are alarmingly high. 

• In 2012, 3,328 people were killed in distraction-related crashes.
• About 421,000 people were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver.
• In 2012, 11% of drivers under age 20 involved in fatal accidents were reported to be distracted at the time of the crash.
• One-fourth of teenagers respond to at least one text message every time they drive and 20% of teens and 10% of parents report having multi-text message conversations while driving.

 As cell phone use and driving becomes a national problem, the chances of being involved in a car accident with a distracted driver increase.

So it makes sense to start playing hardball and impounding registrations for three months for every cell phone while driving infraction.