Now, while the increase in road deaths caused by mindless cell phone drivers is indeed troubling, what do you think is the number-one cause of distracted driving? Alcohol? Unruly children? Falling asleep at the wheel? A dropped cigarette? Stinging insects in your front seat?
Nope, according to a 2009 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, eating and/or drinking in the car causes 80% of all car accidents. Not just 80% of distracted driving accidents, but 80% of all auto accidents. That's right, the worst offenders on the highway have just emerged from the drive-thru at Dunkin Donuts and Taco Bell, not happy hour at Applebee's.
I point this out to ask the obvious question: Why the intense focus on electronic gadgets when the elephant in the room is right in front of us? Why don't we make eating/drinking in the car illegal? Oh, right. Many of the people who want to ban phone use in the car are the same people who like to pull on their beloved Starbucks on the way to the office.
Lawmakers are great at rationalizing, but it would take a verbal contortionist to explain this one away.
I’m waiting for the time when license plates for motor vehicles are bar coded, because that’s when the real progress will begin. Once the cops realize how much easier it would make there job to scan the license plate, and have the information pop up on their monitor, then they’ll start to think about installing scanners on the street lights, and make it mandatory to have bar coded license plates on the roof as well as the front and sides of each and every vehicle. Now that’s progress! When someone drives too fast, or doesn’t come to a complete stop at an intersection they will receive a ticket in the mail, and that’s it. That will make you think twice about committing an unlawful traffic violation!
ReplyDeleteThen it’s just a matter of time before the department of corrections tattoos bar codes on all of the inmates, now watch the crime rate plummet. Once we get to that point then why not tattoo bar codes on each child at birth, just think of all the problems that would solve….. for the government! You’ll be standing in line at McDonald’s when you order a Big Mac large fry and a large coke, then all of a sudden lights and sirens go off, come to find out that have exceeded your daily allowable intake of trans fats, calories, carbohydrates, or something. There’s so much progress that needs to be made for the betterment of mankind, and if this seems to be too invasive just remember that if you don’t do anything wrong, you’ll have nothing to worry about.
If you want this kind of progress then it’s time you begin to think like a progressive!
While they are at the device which kills the phone in the car, why not install a device that smells food product and shuts the car off??
ReplyDeleteOf course it might be a bit difficult to get home from the grocery store unless you put your groceries in the trunk ...
What ever happened to personal responsiblility?
I think everyone WANTS the NANNY STATE!
BTW ... Don't the cops already have enough to enforce without adding something else?
Maybe we should pass a law that says you cannot buy take-out food ... Hmmmm ...
Mike, if they installed such a "food-smell" shut-off device, I suspect even an attack of gas would disable the car. In that case, vehicular traffic would slow to a crawl on roads all across America! What a country ...
ReplyDeleteTerry ... If we could recycle that GAS into the tank ... we might have something there!!!
ReplyDeleteGASS power ... LOL!
Some good comments on this one, Terry. Based on a fine choice for us to read. Food for thought. Just don't think about it when you're behind the wheel.
ReplyDelete