Posted on 01/14/2009 5:17:04 AM PST by shortstop
Do you sing in the car?
Or shout at the bonehead on your radio?
If so, you could get pulled over.
That's one of the potentical consequences of a stupid suggestion this week -- by the self-proclaimed National Safety Council -- that cell phones be banned in cars.
They want them done away with. They say that the piecemeal banning of cell phones -- mostly in our most liberal states -- doesn't go far enough. They won't be happy until every cell phone in every car is turned off or broken.
Specifically, they say that talking on a cell phone while driving is a dangerous as being drunk -- that cell phones in cares are the same thing as a DWI.
Which is, of course, preposterous. Their claim is not based in reality, but in the exageration of the activist, in the made-up nonsense they pump out in an effort to get people to surrender their freedom. Talking on a cell phone while driving is potentially, for some, distracting. It is, however, in no way like being drunk. It is, in fact, an activity that is, for most drivers, very easily manageable.
People talk on the cell phone all the time while driving. Even in states that outlaw it, talking on the cell while driving is common and safe.
That is proven by the fact that cars aren't piled into one another or into bridge abutments all over the place. Tens of millions of Americans talk and drive safely every day.
In fact, over the last decade plus, as this technology has become part of the mainstream of American life, the rate of highway accidents and fatalities has gone down. Over the period we've had more phones -- countless more phones -- and yet we've had fewer accidents. That is part of an uninterrupted trend toward safer highways resulting from evolving road and car design. Phones have not had an impact on traffic accidents or deaths, and yet these busybodies want to take them out of the hands of drivers.
And not just out of the hands.The National Safety Council says that hands-free phones must also be outlawed. That means the OnStar microphone in the rearview mirror, and the Blue Tooth in the ear. You simply can't talk while driving. Any form of telecommunications device used in any way while you are driving the car is going to be banned.
You break their rule, and they're going to have a cop pull you over and write you up.
Which is where the singing comes in.
How possibly do these morons propose to impose their new rules on your life? How is an officer alongside the road going to be able to tell if you are singing to the radio or talking on a hands-free phone?
Of what if you have a child in the car with you, someone small who doesn't reach up above the windows, and you're talking to him? Or to your dog. Or are hashing out an argument you had with your spouse. Or maybe you just like to talk to yourself.
Will running your mouth behind the wheel now be Fourth Amendment probable cause to pull you over? What about mouth breathers, will Big Brother hold them forever suspect?
This is all just nonsense. It shows what mischief can arise from these freedom-grabbing jerks who want to cram their rules down our throats.
And that's all that's happening here. This is about the piecemeal stripping of freedom from the American people. There remain few corners of life where people can actually choose what they want to do. Freedom of choice ends when you walk out the abortionist's front door.
So let me tell you how it should be.
If you want to talk on your cell phone while driving in your car, it's your business.
And the heck with anybody who says different. These freaking busybodies and their domineering arrogance. They feel completely entitled to play with your life like you are a rat in a cage.
But we should tell them to bug off. It's not their job to protect us, or to define what protection is. We have laws that define safe driving. They tell us how fast to go, and how to pass, and not to leave our lane, and how close to follow, when to yield and where to stop. If we violate any of those laws, ticket us. If we are not violating any of those laws then we, no matter what we are doing, are driving safely.
It is up to us to decide if we can do a certain activity and operate a vehicle safely. If the vehicle actually operates unsafely, pull us over. Until then, it's none of anybody's business.
If you want to eat while you drive, or listen to the radio, or talk on the phone, it's none of anybody's business.
Especially these unelected do-gooders.
We've got to keep the government off our backs. And we've got to recognize that by "protecting" us the government is doing nothing but enslaving us. Because the government can't give you safety without taking away freedom.
And this is America -- the land of the free.
At least it used to be.
Subpeona cellphone records on the driver and see if they were in a call.
Absolutely. I am totally in favor of microphones being installed into every vehicle so that verbalizations of any kind will be dealt with swiftly. This has to stop for the sake of safety!
(it saddens me that some will feel the need for a sarcasm tag on the above)
“First, driving is a privilege, not a right.”
Elk,
Yer linkys are needed......
Earth: “I’m sick of responsible people losing freedoms for stuff like this.”
******************
BSF: “I’m sick of responsible people sitting on their hands allowing it to happen.”
*****************
CSM: I’m sick of members of a small government discussion board applauding it.
I didn’t see you behind me!
I wanted to make sure I got the right kind of chicken broth for the soup, and was confused when there were 5 brands to choose from. Glad I called home, I was reaching for the wrong one. Gotta remember, Campbells, all the time!
Scythian: I’m all for the cell phone ban.
Prime example.
What a load of crap. Defining an activity that doesn't interfere with another individual's liberty as a "privilege" has consistantly been a tactic of jackboots for attacking liberty. Confiscation of all personal property, a 100% income tax, and government curfews can all be defended using your ridiculous logic (e.g. "No one is violating your "freedom" if they pass a law restricting your ability to leave your house on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. What they are doing is adding restrictions on a freedom you choose to indulge in.") It's people like you that are problem with this country.
Me too. It literally makes me sick to my stomach. Absolutely disgusting.
I can say that during the time Montana had no posted speed limits, traffic accident and fatalities went down. Of course, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but you would if I showed you.
Anyone here have a close encounter with someone using a blue tooth? Inquiring minds want to know.
Ok, am I reading this kind of response on “FREE REPUBLIC” website?
True freedom, where people are soverign above all else as the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution intended them to be - nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, should ever be banned or prohibited by law!
In a truly free society, the only laws that should be applied to how people live would be laws that pertain to actual violence toward others or negligence of dependants (protecting life), or intentionally interfering in another person’s liberty and/or pursuit of happiness.
Trying to legislate against stupidity or carelessness is completely ignorant and violates those “inalienable rights” we are supposed to have.
Accidents are accidents, not intentional-dents. You will never do away with lousy drivers no matter what you attempt to restrict. If someone is injured or killed because of another’s carelessness - then they face concequences. Personal responsibility and accountablility have to be held above all else! Using the legislature to remove those from our lives is a huge - HUGE mistake.
Every single time you hear of something being banned or phrohibited, that’s another nail in the coffin of our liberty!
AMEN.
Sorry, I’d rather not die on a highway for your ‘theory’.
“Accidents are accidents, not intentional-dents.”
I don’t think that they are ever ACCIDENTS. I think that every one is actually caused by some negligence, therefore I always refer to them as car WRECKS.
Good article, ETL. This attitude is a big part of the problem. Come on, people. You're not idle unless you're the passenger. You're operating a large piece of machinery that requires your attention.
what we need is a giant blinking billboard on the side of the highway reminding people to keep their phones off so they won’t get distracted.
I encourage all liberty-minded Freepers to join me when laws like these hit the books to drive down the road with their cell phones held to their ears, but to do this whether they’re on the phone or not. (Especially when not on a call!)
They’re going to have to write the law sop that HOLDING a cell phone is illegal, not just talking on it.
I hope this gives all the folks who agree with such an un-American concept like cell phone bans an inkling about how ludicrous and anti-freedom we on the “other” side of this argument view such laws.
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