More often than not lately, I feel like the world is going to hell in a hand basket. And a bunch of us are driving there at 65 mph while brainlessly texting on our smartphones. One of these morons is Ani Voskanian, a 21-year-old woman who killed an 80-year-old man while driving and sending a text last year in Southern California. (I'm sure it was, like, super-important!) She pleaded guilty to murdering Misak Ranjbar when she failed to stop at a four-way intersection. Now, she's been sentenced with a rather unusual punishment: A lifelong ban from having a cellphone in her car. (She also has to tour local schools and talk to kids about the dangers of texting and driving.)
Although she is a murderer, and jail was a definite option, the victim's family is in full support of this "odd" sentencing. I gotta say, I am, too.
Prohibiting Voskanian from ever having a cellphone in her car is actually a brilliant move. The punishment fits the crime, and it's exactly the message the government needs to be sending reckless texting drivers.
Just cruising around my northern New Jersey suburban roads, I've encountered idiots holding and yakking on their cellphones with one hand on the wheel (which is supposedly illegal in NJ). And it's not uncommon to see someone sending a text at a stop sign, or even while gliding down a road at 35 mph, totally staring into their lap. It's sick that it seems as though some people seem to think texting and driving is somehow okay. As though they should have a choice in the matter, just as we do what kind of gas to get (regular or plus?) or what kind of music to listen to on the radio (pop or rap?). There IS no choice. It's NOT up for debate. It's a friggin' idiot move, no matter the circumstances. It can obviously lead to death. And we need to get to the point where the state treats it as seriously as drinking and driving.
Granted, if that were the case, Ani's punishment would be more along the lines of a DUI (could call it DWT -- Driving While Texting) or jail, of course. But hopefully her consequence sends a clear message to the masses that her behavior won't be tolerated and will be punishable with a life sentence, one way or the other.
What do you think about Ani's sentencing?
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Comments 115
....How the hell do you enforce a phone ban? I'd have taken her driver's license away for 10 years instead of that. And I don't think a few weeks in the slammer would have hurt the message either. Although I get that the jails are overcrowded, and I'd rather they put away child molestors than kids who made a moronic decision.
i do think it should be the people-part of the car. she should be allowed it in the trunk for safety given the lack of emergency call boxes and phone booths these days!
I love it! I am all for alternative sentencing. I am 3 years into recovery for someone being thoughtless when it comes to cell phones. This person has no idea how they altered my life forever because of a cell phone call.
I think living her life knowing she killed a man is the biggest punishment!
I think they should have taken away her license for a set number of years and banned use of a phone in the car. What is the punishment if she is found with one? It should be a tough one so that she doesn't want to risk being found with it.
I get confused with the logic of sentencing and the levels of crime. If you drive drunk, you were impaired making that decision and the sentencing is harsh. If you drive and text (and other distractions), you are not impaired while making that decision and the sentencing is much less harsh. Yet both are driving while impaired and have deadly consequences. Why is one a harsh felony and one not? Does it have to come to epidemic proportions and the onslaught of groups like MADD?
She killed someone while texting...and she gets her cell phone taken away? I don't know about jail, but I think she (and everyone else who kills/hurts someone while texting) should at least get her license taken away.
How the hell are they suppose to enforce that? Is the government now going to pay someone to babysit her everyday to be sure that she doesn't use a cell phone in her car for the rest of her life? Only in California...totally stupid!