There are a few people in the Obama administration that are proposing we ban the use of cell phones in cars. I heard a great radio commentator analyse this today and laughed out loud at the irony.
Way back in the day, 1990ish, phones started becoming popular in cars. I remember my mom getting a phone in her car because she commuted an hour each way, so it was for safety purposes. You know the kind of phone I'm referring to, the big, clunky, built-in phone that was mounted on the floorboard of the car. Well, over the last 2 decades, phones became slimmer and sleeker, eventually morphing into the cell phone. Now a day, you would be hard pressed to find a mounted phone inside a car...everyone has switched to the newer technology...the cell phone.
This commentator was pointing out that if we ban cell phones, we are essentially, banning the entire original purpose of this type of device. We might as well stay at home and use our land lines from now on. Obviously, there is some tongue and cheek points to this argument but seriously, banning the use of cell phones by drivers in a car, what has happened to this country?
I've blogged several times about my feelings on texting laws.
Here is just one of my posts. I think texting while you are driving is a very bad idea. I never text and drive. I encourage all drivers to be responsible and not text while they drive, however, it's not the governments job to dictate every single aspect of our lives.
I've had this article from October's Good Housekeeping (page 61) sitting on my desk for a month. I ripped it out because it had a survey of what people do while they drive a car. Here are their results:
72% eat
29% kiss
23% remove clothing
23% style hair
15% engage in sexual activity
13% apply makeup
12% write emails
So, I guess we should make it against the law to eat while you drive. Or kiss someone. Or apply makeup. Or style your hair. Or engage in sexual activity...ok, well, maybe that one :).
Do you get it? There are a million reasons why accidents occur every day. My husband and I own an insurance agency. I hear about auto accidents every single day. Sometimes, people bend down to pick up their dropped directions on the floorboard and have an accident, sometimes, people are handing their kids a sippy cup in the back seat and have an accident...and on and on and on...do we make that against the law? Do we make a law requiring every driver's hands be at 10 and 2 or else they get a ticket? Where does it end???
I've never said texting and driving are a good thing. I don't think it's a good idea to dig around in your purse to find lip gloss, then apply it while driving...however, it's not the governments job to make a law for every, single part of our lives. We have to be cautious of how much power we give the government or the next thing you know, we will be living like Cuba or Nazi Germany.
