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Indeed, it is nothing short of stupid to be talking on the cell phone while driving a vehicle. If this is the best case that the opposition can make, then we are going to have to put laws on the books banning reading, putting on make up, shaving, beating your kids [she said with a giggle], road rage, taking notes, flirting with the person in the next car, and the list just keeps going. Give me a break. It's stupidity, every perpetrator of these acts knows that it is dangerous, they have the momentary loss of sanity and it's done. Having said all of this, let me be clear, I am just as stupid as the next person.

Of course it is terrible when any act of carelessness causes injury or death to someone. That is undisputable, however, the question is whether legislation should be brought to outlaw the use of cell phones while driving. Our government is overrun with these sorts of heart-string pulling issues that get attention because some poor victim's family is pushing it. Certainly, they cannot be blamed for trying to fix what they see as an obvious travesty. The trouble is that these issues, while they do belong in the news so that citizens are aware of the dangers, legislation is not called for. We have laws against driving while distracted, this falls under that heading, and further debate in Congress on the topic takes time from issues of budget, policy and many other social issues that plague our country.

It's the old argument "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Whether that suits our vision of humanity or not, it's true. Go head, take away the guns, battered wives and children die lots of other ways. Have you ever heard of a knife? And how many different ways do you think a person could be killed with various tools or bare hands? Sadly, accidents happen for lots of reasons that are simply a matter of human error. Have you ever been distracted by spilled coffee as you are trying to find your exit? There are simply an infinant number of incidents that can distract one while they are opperating a motor vehicle, and that is one of the things that they try to teach young drivers in drivers' education. Maybe we should make drivers review drivers' education every few years. . .but legislation isn't the answer. It is unintelligent to put our politicians on another red herring. It simply wastes their time and provides another venue for pork to be served in Congress.

Maybe Bill Engvall should just have his own traffic patrol and hand out "Here's your sign" bumper stickers to every driver caught doing something stupid. Legislation won't save lives with this issue. If you cause an accident because you were on your cell phone, it's already your fault. Regardless of the careless act, it falls under the category of reckless driving. You get a citation, pay damages (theoretically), and your insurance goes up. We already know that many people have insurance just long enough to get their car registered, so it's every person for themselves out there.

My heart goes out to those with life altering consequences resulting from accidents caused by any act of carelessness, including cell phone use, but we can do better than this. There must be more important issues to be brought before Congress. This is just another distraction.

Learn more about this author, Tracy Silveira.
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