The Virginia House of Delegates yesterday passed a bill which prohibits teenagers from talking on, sending text messages on, or taking picture with their cell phones while driving. Cell phone use would be a secondary offense, meaning that offenders would only be cited if they had already been stopped for another moving violation.
While I think this is a good thing, I think it's stupid to limit it to teenagers. Each day I walk from the local Metro (subway) station to the shopping center where I park my car, and cross a busy intersection at which at least 50% of all drivers roar through the right turn even when the light is red, not bothering to look for pedestrians. If they look around at all, they look to see if they can beat whatever traffic is coming from the left, not for pedestrians crossing from the right...and most of them are also chatting happily on cell phones.
Driving is inherently dangerous, and requires the driver's full attention. I've seen some pretty amazing driver tricks on our massively crowded Northern Virginia highways - drivers not just talking on their cell phones, but eating, putting on makeup, reading newspapers, or carrying on conversations with back seat passengers. Given all this, a law banning cell phone use while driving is a great idea for drivers of all ages even if it only removes one potential source of distraction.
The larger issue, though, is that you can't legislate against stupidity. If we could, we probably couldn't build jails big enough and fast enough to hold all the offenders.
But it's a nice thought.
Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
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