I’m driving during rush hour and the gold CC in the lane next to me slowly creeps to the left, one tap on the horn and the driver corrects. As I pass by I noticed the tell tale phone to the ear, the driver was talking on the phone while driving and not paying attention. A few miles later I see a Mercedes almost rear end a pick truck, and again I look and see the driver holding a phone. It is simply another day in a rush hour commute where half of the drivers are not paying attention and frankly I am getting tired of it.
I understand texting and driving is dangerous proposition at best, but in these cases the drivers were not texting, they were simply talking. The saddest thing of all is in both these cars have Bluetooth as standard equipment but neither driver was using it. An argument can be made that both of these drivers would have been far less distracted if the phone was in the passenger seat and they were talking wirelessly. Think about it for a bit, it is pretty easy to drive with both hands and talk to a passenger, so does it matter if they are physically located in the vehicle or somewhere else?
Every time I picked up a new car before I drive off the lot, I pair my iPhone to the car. It isn’t like this is rocket science, and it only takes a few minutes to do, but the simple fact is that most motorists don’t bother to do so EVER. I positively hate driving with a phone to my ear, so to me it is a necessity not an option.
Why is that so hard for the average driver to do? Why take the risk? Should the Feds step in and mandate that a phone in motion can only be used when pair to a Bluetooth device? Problem solved then and there.
I have never been a fan of the battle against distracted driving by banning texting behind the wheel. Why? It is simply is a very small portion total problem. The law needs to cover almost anything that takes both hands off the wheel for an extended period of the time.
What activities do that?
Well, texting, talking with the phone to your ear, tuning the radio to a station not on the presets (maybe because you never bothered to read the manual) , and stuffing that Big Mac in your mouth just to name a few. The point is that to not ban the device, but force the driver to keep both hands on the wheel most of the time. It is pretty simple if you think about it, a beep goes off if one hand is off the wheel for a period of time and continues to beep until both hands are back on for a period of time. Both hands on the wheel is arguably better than just one.
After all us it too much of a price to ask that all drivers be involved in the process of hurling a vehicle at a high rate of speed down the highway?
Your thoughts?