State Governments to Drivers: Stop Being Stupid

The NY Times has this enjoyable little article on the recent efforts by many state governments to restrict distracting behaviors behind the wheel:

"Four years after New York passed the nation's first cellphone ban, 22 states and Washington have limited cellphone use while driving. And in the last year, many of those states have gone beyond merely regulating cellphone use among drivers, cracking down on distractions inside cars."

This is really more of a personal rant then a political issue, but I'm going to rant about it nonetheless. I cannot tell you the number of times I've seen people cause or nearly cause accidents by simply making bad driving decisions, like choosing to run a red light extremely late, or driving at 10 mph in the middle of a busy road because you don't know where you're going. Seeing as how many accidents are caused by people who are actually NOT distracted by a phone or something else, you can see why many states would think it's a good idea to regulate the drivers who ARE. Of course, since many Americans think driving is a right enshrined in the Constitution, there are a few who are bound to be upset by this new trend:

• "It is a prospect that Mr. Suarez, 42, like many drivers across Connecticut, can hardly believe is possible.'I'm in sales, so I work out of my car a lot,' he said Thursday, after driving into a parking lot here with his phone pressed against his ear. 'It's an infringement of my personal freedoms.'"

Yeah, it's the good old "You're stopping me from doing whatever dangerous/reckless activity I want to be doing, which is an infringement on my God-given freedom." I guess Mr. Suarez has never heard that saying about great freedom and great responsibility. If people could talk on their phones without rear-ending other people, or stopping at green lights, or running red ones, well then we wouldn't have to regulate this would we? You have no responsibility, therefore you will have no freedom.

• "Nancy Neumann, 40, who was shopping on Thursday for a hands-free device at a Verizon store in Trumbull, said the police should not have the right to penalize drivers for eating, drinking or talking to people in the back seat.'You can grab a soda without even looking and you can swat your kids in the backseat without even looking,' said Ms. Neumann, a mother of three."

You can? Does this lady know which kid she's swatting?

• "Kelli Bussan, 36, a stay-at-home mom in New Canaan, said some distractions were impossible to avoid.'My kids are always dropping their cups," she said, while rearranging toys in her parked gold 2004 Lincoln Navigator. 'I have to turn around and get it unless I want them screaming the whole way home.'"

Now this is just funny. Notice how the reporter casually throws in the fact that she drives a gold 2004 Lincoln Navigator, one of the most expensive SUVs on the market. Do we have a little class-bias here? I think so, to humerous effect, cause we all know someone like this, don't we? I find myself wishing Mrs. Bussan would have to listen to a little more screaming on the way home.

• "Leigh Owen, standing near a Starbucks in Greenwich, said she wondered how the police would handle her own recent embarrassing car crisis: a giant spider camped out just above her head. 'I was screaming "Oh my God, Oh my God, I'm going to die," ' she said. 'I had to jerk the wheel to pull over. Would I get a ticket for a spider?'"

And here the reporter casually tosses in the Starbucks detail....yeah, we know what kind of person he's talking about. To Ms. Owen's unintentionally humerous query, the answer is no, you wouldn't get a ticket "for a spider", you'd get a ticket for pulling your car over in the middle of the road and threatening someone else's life and property because you're so irrationally afraid of spiders that you can't be bothered to at least pull over properly. Why exactly should your spider issue become MY issue when you run into me?

As far as I'm concerned, if the state wants to say that you are required to drive with both hands on the wheel, sitting straight up, with your head facing forward and your radio off, that's fine with me. Driving is not a right given to you by God or the founding fathers. It is a privilege that comes with responsibility, which many Americans seem to be lacking. So as for these new regulations, I say...get over it.