Banning Cell Phones While Driving is Wishful Thinking
Jesse
May 26, 2009
An increasing number of states (California, Washington, New York, etc) have banned using cell phones while driving a car in recent years, and that number continues to grow. While many lawmakers and citizens support the trend in the name of progressive public safety, I would argue that it points to an alarming rate of passive public acceptance of unnecessary regulation by the government at all levels.
Granted, there have been a crazy number of accidents in recent years that have been caused at least in part by the use of cell phones, such as the 2008 Chatsworth train wreck near Los Angeles in which the conductor was text messaging right before the Metrolink commuter train he was controlling smashed squarely into a freight train. And I’m just as scared as the next guy when I see little 16 year old Suzie get into her mom’s SUV and whip out her iPhone… believe me.
As seen above, there are plenty of things that are a lot more distracting than using a cell phone while driving. Is this the beginning of obsessive regulation in the US?
But if in fact our country seeks to hold onto any sort of “individual rights” and “regulation in moderation” types of ideals, I can’t think of a more submissive and subconscious way to throw those values away then over-regulating communication and transportation… at the same time, and with very hefty punishments.
What needs to be said, more than anything else, is that stupid, incompetent people will always find a way to crash their cars and trip over bricks no matter how much we try to stop them from doing so. We can keep them from using cell phones, or running too fast, or whatever the hell else we want, but it won’t change this simple fact, and it won’t slow them from hurting other people in society either.
Competent, coordinated humans will continue to accel in all matters of social and physical interaction, and bumbling idiots will continue to receive Darwin Awards for their overly retarded antics and masochism.
This can be compared to other wishful and politically correct policies that have been recently implemented in the United States such as the No Child Left Behind Act. Why can’t we leave some children behind? We know that a ton of them will fail to attend college anyway, and God knows we need more tomato pickers and burger flippers.
I can think of a lot of other things that are more distracting in a car than simply using a cell phone… like… breast-feeding a baby. Or maybe shaving, having sex, or playing badminton.
Or we could be even more “big brother” and completely ban eating and drinking while driving, like the United Kingdom already has, where such activities were first proposed to carry jail time of up to 5 freaking years.
Oh, dear. I can’t wait until the next generation of teenagers starts to die in mass because they were trying to hookup their cell phone’s hands-free Bluetooth connection… while driving…
Wow, I am a driving instructor here in the UK; we have had a ban on texting/phoning for a long time – I can’t imagine now texting while I drive! So dangerous! It only takes half a second of looking too long at your phone and you can go off course. You can talk on the phone here as long as you don’t touch the phone, (you can use bluetooth if connected to your car, for example I have a button on the steering wheel, so to answer a phone call I just press the button & talk).
@sns, that’s a pretty reasonable response, thanks!
Whilst certain things should be self regulatory, the fact is that there are far to many idiots who ignore common sense, making it illegal to use your mobile, etc is logical for 2 reasons, 1st is that the morons can’t make excuses about not knowing it’s wrong, 2nd is that by making it illegal this then gives the victims of others stupidity a legal ability to go after these cretins.
To simplify, if you have common sense then these laws will have no effect on you, if you are terminally retarded then these laws will either remind you or make it possible to throw your ass in jail.
Oh and another thing, by showing this picture of a dingbat with too many dogs in her car only reinforces the fact that there are too many distractions as it is. We don’t need to add phone calls to the mix!
Of course they are going to ban this and they should, personal rights??? How about the right to drive without worrying about some thumb typing twit smashing into our family vehicle?
Look at how many teens text and can’t go 5 mins without using their phone? Now put them behind a wheel and see if they go 5 mins… doubtful!
Banning eating and drinking while driving should also happen. I mean if you can’t take a break a couple of times throughout the day to feed and water yourself then you’ll end up with more to worry about than Tiny Text-Alots zoom zoom coming your way! Stroke, tension, and high blood pressure to name a few but then these are our times.