Cell phones and driving.

An interesting subject came up last week that has me a little chapped for two reasons.

Recently one of our state representatives here in Idaho was walking across a cross walk when he was nearly struck by a driver talking on a cell phone. So the representative thought to himself, "Man we need a law preventing people from talking on cell phones while they are driving." So he grabbed three of his rep. buddies and they constructed a bill that they are trying to get passed into law.

I personally love the idea. Here's the part that bugs me:

First, why did take a representative nearly getting killed for them to take action? It is another sign that most politicians are completely out of touch with the citizens they serve. It's obvious that something must directly affect them before they realize that many are affected.

Two, the folks in my state....and probably in a lot of the rest of the country. The main argument against this bill is that it further infringes on our rights and simply makes government bigger. Now I fancy myself a moderate conservative and I'm the first one to say we have too much government in this country and will have a lot more if things continue on their present course. While I don't claim to be an expert in the constitution, I am aware of the fact that there are two things in this country: Rights, and Privileges.

Driving falls under the latter. I know I'll probably break a lot of folks hearts when I say that but it's true. Nowhere in the constitution of the U.S. and my state does it say we have a "right" to drive. That's why the government can do things like... make you test for a license.

This trend has become disturbing. Every time something occurs in our great country, it steps on someones rights. And the rights that are explicitly stated (2nd ammendment) people want to interpret and get rid of.

As someone who works in Law Enforcement I can tell you this 85% of my traffic stops I am able to ascertain that the driver was using their cell. This may or may not have an affect on their driving, but my experience tells me it does. The most common excuse I hear by far for speeding - "I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize the speed, or how fast I was going". Could it be because your talking on a cell phone and not looking at street signs?

Now as a motorcyclist, drivers on cell phones scare the hell out of me. And what's worse...ahh..texting! While drivin?! Let me see, I have this high tech item that allows me to instantly connect with anyone, but I'm going to go ahead and type them a message. I got news for ya folks, that's not a cell phone its a cell telegraph. Perhaps we could make phones even smaller by getting rid of the numbers and keyboards, putting one button in the middle, dropping Physical Education out of schoos and teaching kids morse code. That way we could actually work our way back out of the industrial revolution. Perhaps we could go with cellular cave paintings or smoke signals. The worst part is folks will choose to text while driving.

I am not a big fan of seatbelt and helmet laws, however I understand the reasons they exist (that could be a whole other thread). While I know a lot of folks in the two wheeled community oppose helmet laws, again, driving, it's a privilege and as such subject to greater restriction.


I know there are states out there who have laws preventing drivers from using cell phones while driving or allowing hands free devices. How do they work? Are they effective? What is the fine on this?

I suppose I am particularly partial about it because I have had several of my brothers in blue nearly killed by folks talking on phones - so I'm interested to hear peoples opinions on this. My thought comes to the fact that most people believe they are better drivers than what they actually are (I'll include myself in that) but who knows. Maybe these laws don't work - if so - let me know.