EDITORIAL DISTRACTED LAWMAKING SENATORS BAN RECKLESS DRIVING, AGAIN.THE California Senate has taken a ``bold'' stand against eating, drinking, cell-phone talking or otherwise recklessly driving, voting to make a special case out of motorists who let such activities distract them from the road. A great idea - too bad it's already been done. A majority of the state's senators - all but one Democrats - were seemingly unaware or didn't care that reckless driving reckless driving n. operation of an automobile in a dangerous manner under the circumstances, including speeding (or going too fast for the conditions, even though within the posted speed limit), driving after drinking (but not drunk), having too many passengers in is already illegal, no matter what the cause of the distraction. Whether it's because they're dealing with shrieking kids or reading the daily paper, distracted drivers who endanger en·dan·ger tr.v. en·dan·gered, en·dan·ger·ing, en·dan·gers 1. To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2. To threaten with extinction. those around them - regardless of the cause - can already be stopped, ticketed and fined. So what's the point of a law that essentially bans behavior that's already illegal? If the risk of death or a ticket isn't enough to dissuade TO DISSUADE, crim. law. To induce a person not to do an act. 2. To dissuade a witness from giving evidence against a person indicted, is an indictable offence at common law. Hawk. B. 1, c. 2 1, s. 1 5. the reckless, a $35 surcharge An overcharge or additional cost. A surcharge is an added liability imposed on something that is already due, such as a tax on tax. It also refers to the penalty a court can impose on a fiduciary for breaching a duty. for the first offense is unlikely to do the trick. The piddling sums likely to be raised won't even help the cash-strapped state pay very many of its bills. But politicians like to look like they're doing ``something,'' even when they're not, so pretending to crack down on reckless and irresponsible drivers makes them look and feel good. The problem is that in a state beset be·set tr.v. be·set, be·set·ting, be·sets 1. To attack from all sides. 2. To trouble persistently; harass. See Synonyms at attack. 3. by real problems, their endless self-indulgences take the place of grappling with the real issues. In that way, politicians are a lot like drivers who would rather put on makeup or read the sports page Noun 1. sports page - any page in the sports section of a newspaper page - one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains than pay attention to the task at hand. |
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