Does New Jersey Really Want to Ban Drivers From Drinking Coffee?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

New Jersey Democrats are pushing a wide-ranging distracted driving bill that would lead to harsh penalties for motorists, but does it mean cupholders will soon be outlawed in the Garden State?

The answer: probably not, but the bill would give law enforcement the blanket regulation they need to lay a charge for anything from eating behind the wheel to fixing your hair.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) sponsored the bill seven months ago, but it still hasn’t come up for a vote. The backlash to the proposed legislation has been fierce, he told the Associated Press, with media stories and residents all claiming that the bill amounts to a ban on drinking coffee.

“It was the ‘ham sandwich bill’ last time,” he told AP. “Now it’s coffee.”

New Jersey already has laws that ban texting while driving and mandate hands-free calling, but the new bill adds other potentially distracting activities to the mix. Drivers would face a $200 to $400 fine for the first offence, with penalties rising by 200-dollar increments for the second and third offence. Keep it up, and motorists could stand to lose points and face a 90-day license suspension.

Now, back to the coffee. Taking away a motorist’s morning coffee would be akin to removing stars from the flag, but the bill is vague on that point. Wisniewski recently told News12 that the bill would broaden the definition of distracted driving to include eating, grooming, and reading documents. With such a bill in place, the state wouldn’t have to update their laws every time a new technology crops up.

“The more you do other things while you’re driving, the less attention you’re paying to the road,” Wisniewski told the station. “And the less attention you’re paying to the road, the more likely that you’ll have an accident.”

Does that mean combing one’s hair with one hand or eating a breakfast burrito counts as distracted driving? Or worse — sipping coffee? Wisniewski wants to leave that judgement call to law enforcement officers.

According to AP, Wisniewski said that “he cannot imagine that a police officer would pull anyone over for drinking coffee.” That leaves the possibility that an officer could pull someone over for drinking coffee, though a media-fueled backlash would likely ensue.

Most people agree that eating soup, cereal or a burger with both hands (while driving with your knee) is dangerous. If passed, it’s likely law enforcement would look the other way if a motorist has their eyes on the road and one hand on the wheel.

Likely, not not certain.

[Image: bluemini/ Flickr]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 74 comments
  • Redav Redav on Aug 09, 2016

    The Daily Show (or something similar) was able to get a NJ rep to admit that they don't let people pump their own gas because they believe the people are too incompetent to do it. Obvious trolling & clever editing, but they still said it.

  • Jeff S Jeff S on Aug 09, 2016

    I think New Jersey would be a better place to be from and not in. Better to move and let the legislators pass some more laws and continue New Jersey's spiral downward. Maybe eventually New Jersey will come back after they lose most of their businesses and lose population but then it might be too late.

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
Next