Distracted Drivers, Pay Attention!

Here in Massachusetts, the solons in the legislature are currently considering a bill to make it unlawful to use a hand-held mobile device while driving.

photo: jdpower.com

This is just common sense.  These days, whenever you see someone driving badly, nine out of ten of them have some sort of phone pressed to their ear.  The distraction of phone usage seems to interfere with a driver's sense of speed and distance.  Driver-Callers are either going too fast,  passing you on the right,  or they are blocking traffic, moping along in the passing lane.  They pull out in front of you suddenly, cut you off and steal your parking space, they follow too closely, meander through intersections and generally create a more hazardous situation.

Some critics don't think the proposed measure is enough.  They think hands-free phones are also distracting. I'm sure there is scientific proof that any non-driving activity is distracting*.
We carry on conversations with passengers, sing along with golden oldies,  sip our drive through coffee, and practice our presentations while speeding down the pike.  Most of the time we arrive without a crash.  But I must admit to rear-ending a Subaru in Newton one morning while I was writing down the punchline to a joke (which I no longer recall). 

The great thing about modern technology is that cell phone transmissions can be tracked by location and time.  The only way the  law can be enforceable - is to make analysis of cell phone records an integral part of the investigation of any accident. 

I would even support a bill that allows an insurance company to add a caveat to its policies that says, we will not pay if you are involved in an accident while using a mobile device (or not wearing seat belts).  This would seen to be a great incentive for drivers to self police their own cell phone usage.

*I've witnessed some bizarre behavior at the wheel, most of which should probably be prohibited: Women applying make-up, people noshing on Egg McMuffins, reading  paper or book, one guy was practicing scales on his trumpet while waiting at a stoplight on memorial drive.  One time, following a small red pickup truck on route 495,  I noticed  something hitting my windshield making little smudges, so I sped up and passed them, I could see a couple apparently oblivious  grooving to the music eating chicken wings and  tossing the bones out of the windows.

Isn't it time for the madness to stop?