On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 19:54:40 GMT, (Dave Mundt)
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

I am annoyed by folks that clasp the cell phone to their
ear while driving, and, are not paying attention to the road...as
a matter of fact, the majority of the close calls I have had in
the past few years have COME from exactly that sort of stupid
behavior.

Yup

now...last year, due to circumstances beyond my control,
I was forced to get a cell phone. While it does not happen often,
I do end up talking while on the road at times. I have found,
though, that with a headset, it is no more distracting for me
to talk on it, then, it is to talk with a passenger in the
car. Of course, I also make bloody sure to pay more attention
to the driving than the conversation.

Which makes you unusual. For one thing, you don't _normally_ talk to
your passenger about the method of sale of a house that is urgent, or
have an argument about how to run the office. Many accidents have also
been the result of driver and passenger having an argument. Phone
messages tend to be more "Critical" than a talk to the passenger.

I suspect that the big problem with cell phones and
driving IS the fact that we are trained from birth to pay
100 % of our attention to the phone conversation.

And that too.

While I waver back and forth on the issue, I generally
feel that we should not ban cell phone use in the vehicle,
just because it is a waste of time, and, we already have too
many laws in America that bring the fences in too close
to us citizens. It is a law that would be almost universally
ignored, and so would act to erode what little respect the
public still has for the structure of laws in this country.

I disagree. This argument has been used to try to arrange the
legalisation of just about everything. "Everybody does it" Can't catch
em anyway". Catch enough people and people start to listen. It seems
to have worked here.

It is also a law that could ONLY be enforced in a selective
fashion, which *would* mean that it would be abused by
the authorities. After all, if the cops ticketed EVERYONE
they caught using a cell phone while driving, not only would
they have a huge public outcry, but, doughnut sales would
drop terribly, and, (if this area is any example) about
half the tickets would go to cops themselves.

Why should a public outcry ensue, and so what? We have a huge public
outcry against speed cameras, and they just go on using them. I waver
on that issue, because speed cameras have all sorts of lacks as
enrorcers of good sense. But in the end, you does the crime you pays
the fine.