We’ve all been driving along, minding our own business, when some idiot on a cell phone starts behaving stupidly and dangerously. Taking hands off the wheel to gesture, swerving into other lanes, driving too slowly, not paying attention to the road, and generally being an obnoxious hazard to everyone around him or her. I see those people daily, and some days it’s harder than others to resist the urge to run them off the road so they’ll stop talking and drive for five freaking minutes. (Sorry, obviously this is a sore spot for me.) Well soon, I won’t have to be a vigilante; the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended a full ban on the use of cell phones while driving.
“Needless lives are lost on our highways, and for what? Convenience? Death isn’t convenient,” said NTSB committee chair Deborah Hersman. “So we can stay more connected? A fatal accident severs that connection.”
Sure, there are other ways drivers can distract themselves: playing with the radio, shaving their bikini line, staring at topless women in the middle of the road, whatever. But the cell phone is the most omnipresent distraction out there. According to the NTSB, there are 13.5 million drivers on their cell phones at any point during daylight hours, and that’s way too many, especially during treacherous conditions.
The government makes a lot of stupid nanny laws, but this one makes sense. It’s a safety issue, and if the states won’t do enough about it, the federal government will have to considering the amount of federal highways there are to maintain. If we have to wear seat belts and not be drunk, then we should also stay off the phone for five freaking minutes.
Tags: cell phones, cellular phones, mobile phones, cell phone ban, national cell phone band, NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB recommends cell phone restrictions, no cell phones while driving, laws, unusual laws, federal laws, safety laws, Deborah Hersman
