Illinois hits the brakes today on electronic device use

While it doesn't have anything to do with the hand held device use law, Illinois also added other laws or taxes that went into effect today, which are an attempt at the Dire Financial Condition, commented by Lost Anyway.

Don't forget for all the Illinois folks on here, our gas tax also went up, effective today. The State tax on gasoline doubles today, going to 38 cents per gallon.

For you outside the state, that does not include the Federal tax, or the 3 cent per gallon Cook county, or the 8 cents a gallon for all the collar counties. Some of the news outlets are saying that we are the highest in the country; while others say we're competing against California. I don't know...

I don't smoke. But the State $1.98 per pack tax just jumped up by an additional dollar. e-Cigarette's now taxed at 15%.

ALL tobacco items, including e-cigs have gone to 21, same as alcohol purchases.

These are the big ones.

Stay Safe out there!

WGN TV Chicago today said IL was the 3rd highest. I don't know what the addition of county and/or other local taxes might place it.

As background for the audio, a BP station was pictured showing $4 a gallon for regular

Southern CA resident here... $4 per gallon is normal. I just refueled yesterday @ $3.55/gallon. I have seen as high as $4.50/gallon and we just had gas tax increase effective July 1. It's awesome here in CA. That's sarcasm, btw.

Do you know if this policy is a primary or secondary offense? Here in Pennsylvania we have a "hands-free" law but it is secondary, meaning they must pull you over for a primary offense before writing a citation for violation of the hands-free.

..I have a friend who was pulled over and ticketed only for texting/cell phone use.

I don't live in IL but if I did, I'm wondering if touching the head unit screen is included now? It is the GPS, the radio, etc. It's not a handheld device.

Airbrushed, are you sure that Illinois' state gasoline tax is ONLY 38 cents per gallon? I ask because today Ohio's state gasoline tax went up ten-and-a-half cents for a total of 38-and-a-half cents. I'm surprised that your tax is less than ours. And I'm also surprised that before today's tax increase your tax was only 19 cents/gallon. That's hard to believe.

Phil

That's correct. IL tax was .19 and doubled today.

Washington state gas tax is a little over 55 cents a gallon with the other taxes added on it comes to about 70 cents per gallon , so if you want cheap gas you go to the Indian reservation LOL

The fine in Ontario starts at $495.

Second charge can result in loss if license for 7 days and 3rd can result in 30 day suspension.That doesn't include fines up to $3000 for repeat offenses.

Still hasn't stopped the use of phones. I figure they should impound the car as well as the fines. More deaths by distracted than DUI.

In Manitoba, using a handheld device can set you back $672, plus two days suspension of your licence and your vehicle is seized and towed on the spot. Total cost with towing and storage would be over $1100. It applies to any distracted driving, including even eating or drinking while driving if it distracts the driver.

As someone who came close to getting killed by a driver on a cell phone missing a stop sign, I don't have an issue with this.

It does not include a dash-mounted device as long as you are only touching one button at a time to answer a call. It obviously makes sense to search for destinations on your GPS where you need to type in multiple letters, only while stopped.

Small fender bender happened in front of me a couple of weeks ago. Woman ran a red light, talking on her phone, I was behind her and had stopped. I could clearly see her on the phone when I slowed for the light. I told the cops that and I hope they made it part of the repott. But, who knows.

She got out of the car STILL talking on her phone.

And it was a newer SUV, so it probably had bluetooth, but didn't use it. STUPID!

For base numbers that distinction goes to my state, Pennsylvania at 57.6 cents, California is 47.7 cents, however, in CA fuel sales are also subject to 2.25% sales tax.

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Writing laws well is difficult. Turning on my backup camera is done by hitting the "camera" button on the GPS screen. Should accommodating that be written into the law? Should my implementation of backup camera be illegal?

..to me.

There has been a hands free law for phones in Illinois already for a couple years maybe, as well as NO cell phone use in any construction zone or school zone. I had still seen daily, countless people holding them up to their face, or staring down at the screen while texting or whatever the activities they were doing.

It had started in Cook County (Chicago) originally, but then expanded to the rest of the state.

I'm not really upset that it has now expanded to total "distracted driving" as I've almost been hit, and I saw someone get rear ended in rush hour and the driver that caused it was looking down at his phone. (One of those - Holy Smokes - He's gonna hit that... CRUNCH!!!) moments. He could have been behind me or any other car on the outbound Ike.

It's interesting and almost funny in a way to see that law enforcement is exempt. Enforce the law without having to follow the law.

That's a good question. I just spent some time websearching it but didn't see an answer (which doesn't mean it's not answered on the web; I just didn't find the answer).

However Illinois' previous, less restrictive law about driver handheld cell phone use was a primary enforcement matter (you could be pulled over just for holding a cell phone while driving), and since breaking this new law is a moving violation, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Illinois means business, and it's primary enforcement--all they need to pull a driver over. After a brief period of pulling drivers over and warning them, the handheld cell phone law was enforced vigorously in many Illinois towns though not all. Maybe they'll start with just warnings on this one. That doesn't help out-of-state drivers driving through in 2020.

Illinois also has a seat belt law which was secondary enforcement the first year but then became primary and has also been enforced vigorously by some police departments. I have less sympathy for getting pulled over for a seat belt violation than this new law. Do your loved ones a favor and wear the ding-danged seat belts. And again I am not defending the indefensible, texting or other egregious use of electronic devices while driving. Ticket away.

I also don't blame those of you who were hit or nearly hit by distracted drivers for approving of this ordinance. I just say again: know yourself. If you're ever guilty of the less-distracted elements of behavior covered by this law, keep it in mind. As for me, I plead the fifth on occasional touch control of electronic devices.

I live in Indiana and have no desire to go there. All these new taxes will not be used for there purpose. Just like here in Indiana they put in a new road tax last year but I don't see any difference in the roads.

It has been my observation over the last 20 years/450,000 miles or so that drivers are becoming more distracted. Seems like drivers in states that allow cell phone use generally pay more attention, but not always. Those in states that do not allow cell phone use are always looking down at their phones and pay less attention to driving. The most alarming thing in the last 10 years or so is the number of semi drivers looking down at phones.
Seems like about 30 to 40 percent of truck drivers are not paying attention to driving their 60 to 80 thousand pound trucks.

Good, it freaks me out when I see people driving and texting at the same time (not at a stop, or in standing traffic). One time I saw someone playing Candy Crush while driving. Accident waiting to happen.

Please confirm this for me. If you have a GPS on the windshield and you don’t touch it, are you in violation??

If your car came with a GPS And you don’t touch it,?are you still in violation??

We left IL in 2015. Was on phone with person today
And he said premium is $5 a gallon!
I just paid $2.50 for regular today

Yes, drivers in Illinois can have powered-up electronic devices on the dash, built-in, or sitting in the console, etc., including GPS or cell phones, and be looking at them, controlling them by voice as the device is programmed to allow, and so on without being in violation.

No problem as long as the driver is not touching or holding the device. Driver hand contact with the device is the key to the law.

Exceptions: drivers can touch or hold electronic devices to call emergency responders or when the vehicle is stopped and the transmission is in Park or Neutral.

Someone sitting in the passenger seat is allowed to touch or hold an electronic device.

Those are west coast gas prices. Illinois is in desperate debt and must raise revenue and cut expenses. Wise move for those who possibly can to head off the exit ramp. (We did, too, in December 2014.)

Hopefully, people in Illinois will vote the politicians who passed this law out of office and get some politicians who will repeal this.

Actually, I doubt that is going to happen. Distracted driving is a serious problem, and it requires serious penalties to change people's behavior. The trend is towards MUCH GREATER penalties, not less.

Up here, distracted driving costs you a $672 ticket, three days licence suspension and your car towed and impounded.

And yet, people still get caught every day.

Some people never learn. I happen to know someone who gets 2 RLC tickets within a year or so. The total penalty for both violations is about $1000. He's just a regular guy who doesn't have millions in the bank.

Of course they will be voted out. Same as it happen with this kind of politicians in year... year... Can you help me find this year when it happened last time"

Touching an electronic device is no more crime worthy than changing the station on the car radio or touching anything else in a car. This is a money grab, plain and simple. For those of you who think it is a serious problem, you are the problem.

My car radio and turn signals are electronic devices, so I would need to avoid using either if I drove in Illinois. This is a good reason not to do that, but I dont see how effective enforcement would work anyway.

You do not need to avoid operating your built-in radio when driving in Illinois.

You could be cited for failure to use a turn signal.

The new Illinois law is directed at loose, portable devices that drivers are holding and/or operating by hand such as cell phones, standalone GPS units, radar detectors, and tablets. It would include any device the driver has mounted on the dashboard or windshield or has loose in the console area or driver's seat. I do not believe it would apply to a built-in electronic device such as the dashboard radio/entertainment center/GPS, climate controls, or turn signals.

It's been illegal in Illinois for several years to hand-hold a cell phone while driving, unless calling emergency responders. State and local police in Illinois have issued many tickets for that behavior, and their right to do so has been upheld and enforced by courts. Many police cars have dashcams that can record much of this behavior as visible to a trailing police car, and they can use that in court, but if there's no dashcam footage, there's the sworn testimony of the police officer that courts are inclined to believe. It would work the same for the expansion to other electronic devices.

If you were cited under this new law, could you go into a court and argue that the statute was unenforceable because drivers who are operating the built-in radio or turn signal are similarly distracted? Sure. And you would lose.

sorry have no sympathy for your view, why the hell would you want to vote out people for making people put down their cell phones and being distracted drivers for any reason, I say get caught then 1 year lose of license for first offense.. second offense permanent loss of driving privilege.......

"DRIVING" is NOT a right, it is a privilege !!!!!

Every state needs to up the penalties for distracted driving, plain and simple. Try driving I-4 in Florida. It's ridiculous.

I drive several hours out of the way to avoid Illinois when I drive between Texas to Indiana. I refuse to have anything to do with the Peoples Republic of Illinois.

and it probably has stopped some but I see way to many drivers in a day driving with a phone in their hands and up to their ear even though most phones have speaker phone or bluetooth. You can touch the device to press 1 button only even if at a stop light. It is a primary violation meaning they can pull you over. Like carpool lane violators, they just don't believe it should apply to them because they're special.

should have a built in function that if there doing more then 10 MPH it automatically turns it's text and voice mode off until its moving slower then 10 MPH ! it also should have a function that if its an emergency a red dot should blink and a tone should sound to alert you so you can pull over and reply to it! since cell phones were invented distracted drivers accidents have quadrupled ! its not heaters or radios or turn signals as far as my GPS I set it before I start the car and turn it off when I get to my destination . if there is a traffic jam I get off that road and the GPS will re rout me. I don't have to touch it.

interesting how it seems to be very difficult to get society to act honorably. I actually know someone who recently got a summons and you guessed it, he's fighting it, even though he did it.

Is it really true? One doesn't reply that instant, and they lost a million dollars as a result? There was someone on a car forum that claimed he doesn't respond to a text or email he could lose tens of thousands so he would gladly pay a $500 fine. I kinda didn't buy it.

Once I was on a plane recently and the guy next to me had a laptop bag indicating he worked for a financial firm. He was screaming as soon as the plane landed, I want 10,000 shares at ninety-five! What? Get it now at one hundred five don't bother go get authorization from xxxxxx! My ears perked up. Turns out it was 95 cents, and $1.05 lol

Now let's put it in perspective--is it worth getting all excited in public over an amount like that? I got excited over saving $892/yr. on insurance, but it's totally different. I don't get excited over $10k in the financial markets.

With the financial situation in Illinois it trickles down to the local cities as well. While I applaud the cell phone laws you need police out there to enforce it. The officers in cars are spread very thin and they have a lot to do already.

I can remember when 19¢ was the price/gallon of gas.

Years ago I would be against it. Today, with most drivers (especially with traffic) it is dangerous and many drivers don't see that. Take the time when I was going around a curve and the driver coming in opposite direction was looking down (I assume texting) and did not turn with the curve and was coming right at me. Evasive maneuver is the only thing that prevented a collision. $75 is way to lenient for a first offense,

We travel in a motorhome and can see down into the cars that are around us. The problem of drivers who are NOT driving, but are texting is totally out of control.

The Illinois law may be an over reaction to the problem, but maybe a solid kick in the head is all that will get the attention of the morons who put my family and yours at risk.

It would be nice if people could drive without playing with their electronic pacifiers. It irritates me to no end when a light turns green, but the car sitting at the intersection does not go because they're watching youtube. I should not have to change my driving habits because I need to stop for green lights.

We left IL in 2015, when we retired....

We are hearing from others there that if you have a High End House for sale in IL, you probably won't be able to sell it now.... Because of all the High End Jobs leaving the state due to increase in taxes... There is a Glut of High End Houses for sale there that remain un-sold!

Our House quadrupled in size, yet taxes fell to 1/3 of what IL Taxes were-- in 2015!!

100% agree...I have a 6 mile stretch of 45 mph highway that unfortunately is interrupted by 17 sequenced traffic light. Between people lagging at traffic lights turned green, and lights that turn green while the one up ahead (200 yards) turns red, it can take 20 minutes to go that 6 miles.

Personally, I'd like to see all phones automatically disabled when vehicle speed exceeds 10 mph and then for 45 seconds after motion ceases. Drastic yes but I think drastic measures are needed, especially in urban areas.