CAR PHONE BAN GOES TOO FAR

boblonsberry.com | 01/14/09 | Bob Lonsberry

[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.

[ColdWater]

ok.. so in the liberal states, where they ban all forms of communication devices while in the car,

I have not seen where any state has banned all forms of communication devices while in a car?

[TChris]

An excellent idea, by the way, and one that desperately needs to be revisited.

Yeah, well, I'm not ready to go quite that far yet, but I would certainly favor a basic civics test to qualify for a "voting license".

We test and license drivers to reduce the risk of car wrecks, but we open wide the gates to those who wreck our country.

[gracesdad]

“You have some serious problems. There are courses to help adults improve their grammar.”

My grammar mistake — something that often happens when people are sending posts — is minor compared to your reading comprehension problem. I simply didn’t take enough time to edit my post. You couldn’t understand a very simple concept.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“...since the common people do not have the judgement to proceed on their own.”

Probably true in the Nanny States, or else they would not be electing these leftist control freaks who would take away ALL freedoms.

[elkfersupper]

You couldn’t understand a very simple concept.

Oh, I understood it, I just couldn't believe I was reading it on Free Republic.

[gracesdad]

“Oh, I understood it, I just couldn’t believe I was reading it on Free Republic.”

Which part could you not believe you were reading? Here they are again:

I don’t believe in a national ban.

These businesses existed before cell phones.

If you can’t believe you’re reading the first one, you’re obviously not a conservative. If you can’t believe the second one, you obviously prefer to ignore fact.

[elkfersupper]

But........

[puppypusher]

We don’t need a car phone ban.What we need is a ban on government parasites.We have way too many.