Dave Hinz wrote:

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 10:55:37 -0700, David wrote:


While no law will achieve 100% compliance, a no-phone-while-driving law
would certainly curtail much of the gabbing, just like mandatory seat
belt and helmet laws have increased the usage of both. I realize that
phones are more difficult for law enforcement officials to spot, as
compared to seat belts and helmets so I suppose there will be plenty of
scofflaws.


I'm guessing that you only notice the cellphone users who are driving
badly; the ones who aren't, you don't see, because they're _not_. So,
maybe it's a case of "bad drivers are bad drivers" rather than "a
cellphone makes a good driver become a bad driver".

As with so many other things, it's the person, not the tool, that
determines good or bad.


Personally I notice a lot more than just bad drivers talking on the cell
while driving. What I think of most often is when you see a
mother/father or even worse both in a car with a kid, two or three going
down the road and the parent(s) is babbling away when they could, or
in my opinion should, be interacting with their children. Playing word
games, alphabet on the signs, "how was your day johnny?", and so on. Of
course no one knows if they already had these conversations, the call is
a brief one and interupting the word games, and so on. That said it
seems more an more with in car TV, DVDs, cell, etc. parent/child
interaction is taking a back seat to a peaceful car ride or a call from
the office.

I have always thought they should offer a cheaper option than the in car
DVD player. An IV bag could simply hang on the dry cleaning hook in the
car/SUV and just jack your kids into a slow drip of morphine. Tie a
diaper around their chin to catch the droole from landing on the leather
seats and just drive til' your hearts content. It would surely be
cheaper than a in car DVD and lets face it, it would serve the same
exact purpose.


Mark