Last night driving home I had two cars at two different times driving slower than usual in front of me. It was the slow lane, so such snail-like speeds aren't that unusual, but the cars were both newer and not Woody Allen comedy cars (you know, a "Smart" car or some other little circus clown car), and the drivers were not 90 years old, but young (much younger than me-and strangely enough, the number of people much younger than me seems to increase with each passing year) and vigorous looking.
It was only when I passed them that I noticed they had cell phones glued to their ears. It then occured to me that cell phone use while driving might not be such a bad thing. Reducing speeds saves lives, doesn't it? Driving slower saves fuel, doesn't it? (the fuel savings, I've heard, can be as much as 25% when driving 65 MPH instead of 80 MPH).
So let's pass a law requiring people to be on their phone whenever they're behind the wheel. It will save lives and gas! And if you think my sample is too anecdotal, well, so what? The state and its "lawmakers" are completely arbitrary in what they make illegal, as experts have informed us that using a hands-free phone while driving is no safer than holding a cell phone to your ear, but they haven't made using hands-free phones while driving against the law...yet.
You're right!
ReplyDeleteI think a law (like the seatbelt law) should passed that would force everyone to use a cell phone while driving in order to slow down all that frantic traffic.
Granted some "kids" won't slow down while talking, but overall there should be a measurable drop in fatalities/accidents.
You deserve a medal for thinking of this!
S
________
They should do that in the Ayn Randian island nation libertarians form when they get fed up with us Socialists. I'm sure autobody shops, hospitals and mortuaries would love the idea. But let's be honest, they'll already be too stoned on legal weed to drive above 15. I wonder how they'll build the roads...
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what's so hard about talking on a phone while driving. They should make it part of the test.