Texting and Other Cell-Phone Use: Things You Shouldn't Be Doing in Your Car

In a news article reported from 'Seattlepi.com' earlier in 2007, a rather careless driver in Seattle, Washington, managed to cause a five-car pileup while trying to check his Blackberry e-mail messages. It wasn't reported as to whether he continued texting while the car was experiencing the pile-up..... 'Ooh, I've just caused a multiple pile-up. Looks like there are some dead 'n's. Yep, oh dear, that doesn't look good. See ya later, TTFN!'. This may or may not have been texted as he smashed and crashed into the debris.

That questions are only now being raised as to whether Texting, Cell-Phone use etc. should be banned from moving vehicles is astonishing. People are lethal enough as it is without the added distraction of Phones or trying to figure if little Timmy's socks are on sale at Wal-Mart via text-alert. Texting is a completely unjustifiable practice in a moving vehicle, even more so than Cell-Phones and I would submit that a person texting is probably as likely if not more so to kill someone than a drunk driver. A drunk driver, at least in general is doing his best to keep his eyes on the road in his sodden state whilst a texter isn't even looking at the road. Consider how far you can travel in the time it takes you to remove your eyes from the road to check your Blueberry or whatever. According to 'ghins.com' you travel approx 88 feet in 1 second at 60 mph. You've traveled further than a football pitch in less than 4 seconds. More interestingly at 60mph it takes almost 400 feet before you can come to a safe stopping distance.

Cell-phone and texting use should be allowable in a stationary or parked vehicle but certainly not in a moving vehicle, no matter what the speed. It shows a complete disregard for human life/safety on behalf of the driver. Young people particularly are susceptible to the supposed wonders of new technological devices and with each new generation the acceptance that you can do what you like in a car needs to be addressed. I apportion as much blame to a drunken driver as I do to someone using a Cell Phone or using a texting device who causes an accident or kills someone and the law should come to its senses and make the call that just because Timmy's socks were indeed on sale at Wal-Mart wasn't a good enough reason to take both your eyes and one hand off the wheel thus resulting in your killing a short-sighted cycling sock-salesman from New Hampshire. Ooh the irony!

From my own personal experience I remember making a work call to a man who happened to be driving his car along a highway. He picked up his phone. I could hear him fumbling with it as he whizzed along, muttering to himself. I asked him the work-associated question and he started to look in his wallet, rummaging around in the glove-compartment and then made the devastatingly-brilliant and obvious statement that he couldn't (make that shouldn't) be talking right now as he's driving on a busy highway and that he would get back to me when he got to the office. Which begs the question......'why did he pick up the phone in the first place?', that's what Voice-Mail is for.

If you are allowed to text and talk on the phone in a car then why not go the whole hog and allow sex in a moving car too. Or how about allowing your toy poodle to drive for you whilst you change your pants. How about folding your car seat down and driving with your feet for a while or perhaps you could see what it like is to drive using just the pinkies of each hand. Drive with your eyes shut for a while, see how that works out or let your two kids hold one side each of the steering wheel. Hey it's your car right, you can do what you want can't you? Well, the answer is No! No you can't do what you want and it's time the powers that be gave make the unpopular decision to make these things crimes and to give the police the power to arrest people who continue to endanger all our lives. For now though all I know is if I see someone in a car on a Cell Phone or Texting either ahead or behind me I'll do my best to change lanes. Let them die on their own time.