Driving While Blind

The New York Times published an article on the dangers of using a cell phone while driving in their Sunday edition. This is info all of us that ride motorcycles on a regular basis already knew. Using a cell phone while driving is tantamount to blowing a .08 on the Breathalyzer. So texting would probably be like blowin' a 4.2, That the Federal government kept the statistics out of the public eye is no surprise. I would like to see the study on texting, to me this is far more dangerous that talking on a cell.

If I had my way, if you get caught texting while driving, you should receive a penalty at least as severe as drunk or reckless driving. You should have your ticket to drive pulled right on the spot. Lump a bit of jail time on top of that. I see all sorts of crazy things people do while driving on a daily basis, from eating cereal, not dry, but with milk and the whole shooting match, to texting while applying make up. To me these people do not give one shit about anybody they happen to be sharing the road with except for themselves.
I wonder how many of us being killed by these self absorbed assholes it will take before lawmakers pass some legislation to make these activities illegal. Here are a couple of excerpts from the original article.

“We’re looking at a problem that could be as bad as drunk driving, and the government has covered it up,” said Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety.

That letter said that hands-free headsets did not eliminate the serious accident risk. The reason: a cellphone conversation itself, not just holding the phone, takes drivers’ focus off the road, studies showed.
“No public health and safety agency should allow its research to be suppressed for political reasons,” he said. Doing so “will cause deaths and injuries on the highways.”
State Senator Joe Simitian of California, who tried from 2001 to 2005 to pass a hands-free cellphone law over objections of the cellphone industry, said the unpublished research would have helped him convince his colleagues that cellphones cause serious — deadly — distraction.
“Years went by when lives could have been saved,” said Mr. Simitian, who in 2006 finally pushed through a hands-free law that took effect last year.

For the whole ball of wax on this story, check out the NYT article covering this subject.

I think they all could use a good beating, but that would land the beaters, not the beatee's in jail. Not exactly a solution for the problem. I guess we will have to just keep looking out for ourselves as usual.

Till Next Time...............