I herd this last night....attn aaron...
The Boston Globe

January 25, 2008


By Scot Lehigh

AS I was driving home recently, the SUV ahead of me pulled off to the curb and stopped. But as I started to
go by, the driver suddenly turned back out into the center of the street. If I hadn't hit the horn, she would
have hit me.

She hadn't looked before making her move.

Why? Well, here's one pretty good clue. She had a cellphone pressed to her ear.

On another recent day, I was going down Bunker Hill Street in Charlestown when a car approached from a
side street. The driver came to a proper stop at the stop sign - and then pulled out in front of me. Luckily,
the other lane was empty, and I swerved into it. If I hadn't, he would have plowed into me. He hadn't looked
before starting his turn.

Why? Well, here's another pretty good clue. He, too, had a cellphone pressed to his ear.

More and more, I find that if someone is driving obliviously, cellphone use is the reason.

Sometimes that obliviousness creates more inconvenience than risk. There is, for example, the city driver
who has to be reminded that the light has changed because he's too busy talking, dialing or texting. Or the
interstate driver out chugging along in the passing lane, so engrossed in conversation that she hasn't noticed
the long line of cars behind her.

But other times, as in my recent experiences, real danger is involved. There are probably plenty of people
who can and do drive and phone without imperiling others. Yet my everyday observation tells me that there
are plenty of others who can't and don't - and they're the ones I'm worried about.

By letting themselves be distracted by their calls and messages, they put the entire burden of defensive
driving on you; if you were as inattentive as they are, an accident might well result.

That's why I think the House did the right thing this week in approving legislation that would forbid text
messaging while driving, ban junior operators from any cellphone use while driving, and require other
drivers to employ an earpiece or speakerphone, leaving their hands free except when dialing or hanging up.

Personally, I can't imagine trying to text while driving. But a couple of nights ago, the (adult) driver next to
me was furiously thumbing the keyboard of her Blackberry-like device while she waited at a red light. The
light changed - and she started off, alternating her attention between the road and her electronic gadget.

We've seen several recent fatal accidents linked or thought to be linked to drivers preoccupied by text
messaging. That's a favored mode of communication among 14- to 24-year-olds, and it's one that they seem
to be taking on the road: A 2007 study cosponsored by the American Automobile Association and Seventeen
magazine found that 46 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds said they text message while driving.

Now, I'm enough of a libertarian that I don't support new restrictions on drivers willy-nilly. That's the reason
why, though I almost always wear a seat belt, I oppose primary enforcement of the state's seat belt law -
that is, letting the police pull you over for that offense alone. The principal risk you run in not wearing a seat
belt is to yourself, not to another driver. Thus it's the sort of conduct that philosopher John Stuart Mill
called "self-regarding behavior."

But that's simply not the case with careless cellphone use. Yes, a distracted driver puts himself at risk, but
he also imperils others.

"This is a case where everybody listening to the discussion has had some experience with the problem,
either because they have a cellphone themselves or they have experienced it with others on the road," notes
Representative Joseph Wagner. The Chicopee Democrat is cochairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee
on Transportation and is the bill's sponsor.

Wagner, who regularly uses a cellphone while commuting back and forth to Chicopee, but with a Bluetooth
earpiece, acknowledges his legislation won't cure every driving problem that cellphones cause.

But it strives to strike a better balance, one that factors public-safety concerns into the communication
equation.

"We are not saying that people can't use cellphones," Wagner says. "We are saying that it can be done more
responsibly, that the technology allows for it, and that by doing it more responsibly we can prevent accidents
and save lives."

That's a worthy goal - and this bill is one that deserves support

I already knew about this.
sad panda.

maybe it was sully from godsmack in disguise