ABC News reported this morning about the dangers of text messaging while driving and that Washington will be the first state to make it illegal. This got me thinking on why we need laws for issues that should be common sense to people? This is obviously a very dangerous habit that seems to be common among young people since this is their main method of communication.
They also reported a news story about a bus driver that crashed a bus while text messaging and injured 30 children including one child lost her hand. Should we have an IQ test before handing out cell phones? Well, my boss who is very intelligent does this all the time. He did it once with me in the car and I was very scared. He also sends me email from his Blackberry while driving his entire family in an SUV!
If we need legislation because so many people are clueless, why does it take so long? Why isn’t this banned country wide? Actually, in my mind, cell phone and hand-held devices should be totally banned from cars. When I sit an intersection watching cars go by, I see about 50% of people talking on their cell phones with it up to their ear (not using hands free). There is no phone call, text message or email that is worth endangering your life or others. How many lives have to be loss to this activity?
The Solution
Since people are addicted to their phones and messaging and no matter how much legislation you throw at them, it will keep happening. So what is the solution? I thought of an easy one… make a law that if a cell phone detects that it’s traveling more than three miles an hour (via the internal GPS), disable it! No reading messages, no dialing and no receiving calls.