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.
Whatever, clueless. Conversations require constant focus, not simple random thoughts...driving safely also requires constant focus. The fact remains that you cannot do both, drive safely and focus on some other task at the same time...can’t be done...which is why cell phone users now equal drunk drivers in causing accidents.
Yep. Most people also don’t give a hoot to what’s going on behind them.
For example, here in Texas most people don’t know that stopping dead to let someone out of a parking lot is against the law. Why, because they are stoping on a public right of way and you don’t block a public right of way. Unfortunately they believe this is being polite. Not... They don’t realize all the traffice jams and possible accidents they are causing behind them. Not everything goes on in front of them. That’s why we can never get through lights around here; because people don’t know how to merge in traffic. I have to be fair here because some of the Texas roads; the feeders are not that far apart and if you don’t know where your turn off is you miss it. Residential roads in Houston are very unimportant. They always have been.
Lonsberry is insane.
‘Yep. Most people also don’t give a hoot to what’s going on behind them.’
First Rule of Italian Auto Racing:
What is behind me does not matter.
I used to think that way but I have come to realize that most
of those D/A’s would be D/A’s cellphones or not.
Mike
But, cell phones are probably as distracting as talking to someone else or listening to the radio. Someone on another thread said they never talked on their cell phone again when they realized they could not remember the last ten minutes of their drive. I can listen to the radio and suddenly think, "Where was I going?"
“... but gabbing on the thing just for the sake of gabbing is dangerous.”
And gabbing is what most of it is. Nearly everyone I hear yakking on their cell phones in the super market - men and women - are discussing what they are buying. Should they get this, should they get that etc.
Cajoling their kids to accept that the latest frankenfood cereal is sold out and they will have to make do with last month’s flavor concept. (raising thoughtless entitled children is a whole other story)
How did people ever shop for food in the dark ages - like the 1980s and a lot of the 1990s?
Actually, they are right — if you are talking on the phone while driving, even if it is a hands-free, your concentration is split and your reaction time will be slower. Ideally, if you get a call while driving, pull over at the nearest stop and call the person back if it is so important.
900 mhz jammers sales are doing very well thank you.
"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."Poor logic. Your conclusion doesn't follow from your statement. The simple absence of an event is not proof of its non-existence. People who talk on cell phones are at least as likely to cause an accident as those who drive drunk. That at least has been proven ad nauseam.
That is proven by the fact that cars aren't piled into one another or into bridge abutments all over the place.
Phones have not had an impact on traffic accidents or deaths"Patently false statement. The data say otherwise.
"We have laws that define safe driving."Not so. We have laws which form the basis for safe driving, but you can still follow every law to the letter and drive unsafely.
And this is America -- the land of the free.It still is, you are perfectly "free" to walk and talk on your cell phone. You are perfectly "free" to ride a bus and talk on your telephone. No one is violating your "freedom," what they are doing is adding restrictions to a privelege you choose out of "freedom" to indulge in. There is a vast difference between the two concepts.
At least it used to be."
They’ll have to stop me first.....
I'm sick of responsible people sitting on their hands allowing it to happen.
Ah hah! The nugget of probable motive in this whole charade. Lord forgive me, but I hate nannystaters.
Good one! I hope to reduce my patriotic payments as much as possible!
bttt
Why not ban talking to the person riding with you ... because we have already established that conversation is dangerous. To make it easier, why don't we simply pass laws against talking of any kind while in vehicle!
Every time there is a thread dealing with proposed bans, whether it be food or otherwise, there are always those here that will reveal how 'conservative' they are and jump on the nannystate bandwagon. It is really discouraging.
Might as well ban radios from cars too, and install one of those “Clockwork Orange” contraptions that holds your eyes open and keeps your head faced toward the road.
Did you mean to address your comments to the person who posted those points? I think you did.
Technically it IS.
The charge is Driving While Impaired. Cellphone drivers ARE impaired, driving with one hand on the wheel, their mind in a conversation with someone who is not in the vehicle (even a passenger can say "look out!")...
A person who is drinking a soda or whatever is still done with it long before the phone driver is "done".
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