Plan to Ban Texting While Driving

Times-Union: Four months before state ban, Rensselaer moves ahead with own texting law

The statewide ban on texting while driving goes into effect Nov. 21 but that's not soon enough for Rensselaer.

Mayor Dan Dwyer said he wants to get a citywide ban on the books by Aug. 1.
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The city's Common Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday on the issue.
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The public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. in the Community Room at City Hall, 62 Washington St.

You don't have to spend much time watching traffic on Washington Ave. to see that many drivers are talking on their cell phones (and not hands-free). This increased noticeably this year, and there seems to be no visible effort to enforce the existing law. There should be a team spotting these folks as they come off the I-90 ramp, and flagging them down. We'd need at least 60,000 tickets to get enough revenue to pave Washington Ave., so let's get busy!


UPDATE: WNYT News Channel 13: Rensselaer considers its texting ban

WNYT via Twitter:

Rensselaer held a public hearing on its plan to pass texting while driving ban before the state's ban goes into effect. No one showed up.