New Jersey’s major cell phone law went into effect on March 1, 2008 (link here).
It is a primary offense for a motorist to talk or text message with a hand-held wireless telephone or electronic communication device while driving.
Use of a hand-held wireless telephone or electronic communication device includes, but is not limited to:
LEGAL BLOG (link here) tells why driving while using a cell-phone is second only to drunk-driving, when it comes to being dangerous. So, even-if using a cell is allowed in some states still, it is almost never considered safe for yourself, the occupants of your vehicle, or the other people using the road.
- Talking or listening to another person.
- Text messaging or sending an electronic message. (copied NJ cell-phone law)
Is Teresa the only Real Housewife of Bravo that I've noticed, who uses her cell while driving? Unfortunately no. In particular, *The Real Housewives of Miami have also been taped while doing this dangerous activity but I was informed that it was legal in Florida at that time. (although just as dangerous).
*(it was reported last weekend that one of the children of the Miami cast was involved in a serious car-accident. I do not know the cause)
New Jersey actually has a "distracted driving" law, which in my opinion would also include being taped for reality television while driving. I'm not trying to get Teresa in trouble with the NJ Department of Motor Vehicles, but I am asking that she please stop driving while using her phone, and that Bravo stops taping and airing these scenes.
You can find much more information about the real danger of using a cell while driving by using the key-phrase, "Hang-up and Drive". Here are just a couple facts posted on Drive and Stay Alive dot com:
"* The California Highway Patrol (CHP) attributed 4699 accidents, 2786 injuries, and 31 deaths resulting from those wrecks to distracted driving caused by people yakking on their phones. (This was for a nine-month period in 2001; the CHP estimates the total for the full year to be closer to 6000 crashes.)
* The Harvard University Center for Risk Analysis estimates that there are as many as 1.5 million crashes annually in the United States leading to 560,000 injuries and 2600 deaths "due to phone use in moving vehicles." (Driveandstayalive.com link here)
Since the surprising suicide of Russel Armstrong on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, more attention and concern has been given to the risks of being the husband of a Real Housewife, and if any husband has given reason for concern, Joe Giudice would also be, "it".
And that, in my opinion, is what is seriously wrong with this picture. Teresa and Joe Giudice have four young children who need BOTH of their parents. Teresa can claim ignorance of her husband's business-dealings and get-away with it. But to put herself at risk when her other-half is deteriorating before everyone's eyes, (including the children sadly), is pathetic and careless.
Hopefully, Joe Giudice will man-up, and pull himself together, but until that happens those children need at least one parent who can act like a responsible adult. We don't want to see any more Real Housewife children lose their parents, but right now what we have been seeing for the Giudice children is some really bad parenting.
This past episode, and the next one coming-up, makes me wonder if the Giudice kids have been traumatized by the violence and drama that we have witnessed this season. Just like Caroline Manzo related a story of her son Albie as a youngster asking her to please wear a seat-belt, children do worry about the safety of their parents. The Giudice kids are being given way too much to worry-about. It can and should be prevented.
Many people are writing-off Joe Giudice as a lost-cause, or minimally, in need of treatment for his behavior and drinking. In a perfect world, both parents share the responsibility of taking-care of the children and themselves. In reality, even in two-parent families sometimes, not everyone acts like the grown-up that their children need them to be.
Right now, or when this episode was taped, Teresa does/did not have the luxury to take unnecessary risks with her own safety. Its not safe to use a cell-phone while driving, and Teresa cannot take the chance that both of her children's parents are severely impaired, or worse.
Speaking-of the children of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, I have to agree-with Melissa about one thing this season and that is that scenes of the Giudice and Gorga cousins getting together could have been a really cute thing for everyone to enjoy.
I know that we need our drama, but the darkness of Season three, has been darker-than anything that Danielle Staub brought to the party. In my opinion, the entire season has been as "Black as Ink"--not just this one episode.
If the husbands could have stayed-out of the family-feuding, I think that could have even been made silly and entertaining while still bringing some drama and tension. I'm pretty-much hating what Bravo has chosen to show us this season. It makes the first two seasons look-like the, "light-hearted" Real Housewives of New Jersey, that they promised us we would have if only Danielle would disappear.
I don't know what the diving laws in Atlanta are, but I can only hope that somewhere down-South, The Real Housewives of Atlanta are driving safely and taping more high-heeled Housewife kookiness, so that the viewers don't feel like they've been hit by a truck after watching.
