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.
Without cell phones, how can my wife call and tell me about all the horrible drivers she is constantly dealing with???
I think the use of cell phones in cars should be banned. I can’t count how many times some D/A with a phone stuck in their ear has darned near made my wife a widow and my kids Fatherless. I do have to admit cell phone are a useful tool in an emergency, but gabbing on the thing just for the sake of gabbing is dangerous.
ok.. so in the liberal states, where they ban all forms of communication devices while in the car, i would expect them to hold all people to this standard. this would include cops, who have been using radios in the car since the 40s. today, they have laptops alongside the full comms gear. the libs would have to do this to the police... unless the cops in lib states are above the law.
of course, since the police cannot use any communications... it might be difficult to respond to any calls... giving the criminals free reign to tear apart the libs states.
sounds like a good idea to me.
That’s what bluetooth or hands free is for.
But, you could just as easily ban women with kids in the car from being on the road seeing as how much time they spend tending the kids as they do paying attention to the road.....
I’m OK with banning cellphone use in cars. Whole lot of retarded conversations going on for no point or reason other than killing time. And it is clearly a distraction for many people.
I never heard of a summons being issued for failing to comply and I refuse to wear that stupid thing in my ear.
I keep my calls short and to the point usually and can walk and chew gum at the same time...so I have no problem with negotiating doing both.
I’m with you. I’ve seen ‘em blow blow through red lights, stop signs (almost t-boned me with that one), turns from the wrong lane...you name it.
I have no problem with a ban of hand held cell phones, and the use of crackberries while driving.
None.
Hands free, voice controlled cells...no problem, but then again while I have one, I rarely if ever use it.
Had a young woman kill several of her juvenile friends in the Cincinnati region not to long ago. She was ‘texting’ while going sixty on a winding county road...about 30 mpg over the speed limit.
Pretty sure four died, two seriously injured.
Let's simplify things and cut to the point. Surrender to the control freaks and nanny staters who will then issue a list of allowable activities and prohibit everything else.
Personal responsibility is hereby prohibited, since the common people do not have the judgement to proceed on their own.
There are lots of things that serve as “distractions” while driving - radio, eating, smoking (I had a classmate killed because he was trying to light his cigarette and missed a turn), other people in the car, kids, etc. Should they all be banned?
On the flip side, I’ve actually had cell phone use make me MORE alert while driving. I have a long commute and can get road hypnosis very easily, especially this time of year when it’s dark. On more than one occassion I’ve needed to get someone to talk to to break it or I would easily be on the side of the road or into another car.
I do keep hands free though.
“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.”
Can’t say I disagree with the overall gist of this piece, but the above is faulty logic. I dare say that tens of millions of people drink and drive every day, and most of them get where they’re going safely - that doesn’t mean that drinking and driving is a smart thing to do.
I even noticed it in myself - normally a good driver, alert to what’s going on around me, that when yacking into the phone, especially if I’m not using the hands free, that my attention wanders, I’m slower than usual, and miles go by without me being particularly aware of it. I never noticed this when I drove a work car with a 2-way radio, though. I’ve certainly noticed that if there’s some idiot driving 10 under the limit in the fast lane, barely keeping in his lane, when I pass them they’ve almost always got a cellphone held to their ear.
Go for it. The love of the government will diminish even further. There will be complaints about a nanny state. This interferes with commerce as many people have come to rely on drive time as work time, not down time. If this pisses off the masses adequately, we will be looking at a freedom to communicate issue. It will be one more nail in the coffin they are building.
The phones should also be banned from supermarkets where addled women yakking on the phone block aisles and assault the ears while erratically driving shopping carts.
Leni
No problem, so long as anyone involved in a fatality accident while talking on the phone is executed on the spot.
Around here, A blonde in a SUV yakking on the phone is just an accident that has not found a location.
That's different. Police enforce the laws which keep the proletariat under control, so they should be exempted.
Well, perhaps is they just make it illegal for women and teenagers to talk on cell phones, that will solve the problem.
: )
Do you know how many businesses this would kill ? I know it would kill ours.Any business that uses service trucks, home health aides,visiting nurses, delivery drivers, shipping trucks, parts runners; basically anyone who doesn't just go to an office or factory and work there.
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