by S Barrow

Created on: August 03, 2007

Absolutely not! One of the pre-requisites of obtaining a drivers license is being able to successfully keep your attention focused on several things at once, traffic congestion, road conditions, pedestrians on the sidewalks, and even that cat crouched by the tire of that parked car. Talking on a cell phone is a lot less distracting than the kids fighting in the back seat and a lot more predictable than say stray animals wondering down the road. What are they going to try to ban next taking more than one child with you at any given time? Granted 50 years ago, no one imagined that we would be able to drive and talk on the phone at the same time, but times change. With changing times comes adaptation. The answer is not a law penalizing everyone for a few idiots that can't seem to multitask just two items.

Those that do get in accidents because they can't manage to hold a phone to their ear and drive at the same time are probably the same people that would eventually get in an accident anyway because they are putting makeup on, shaving or even getting dressed on the way to work. If you look at the ratio of people that talk on the phone and don't get in accidents vs. the number of people that talk on the phone and do get in accidents it will probably be a hell of a lot lower number than the same type of ratio calculation of non-drunk drivers vs. drunk drivers. With that said; if our DUI laws aren't keeping people from driving drunk why should we adopt yet another law that we can't enforce and will most definitely be broken?

The thing about statistics is they can be bent to suit any view point. Those giving the statistics don't tell you they are bending them because they want to control your thought process and lead you in the direction they want you to go. Let's think about those statistics of accidents that are supposedly cell phone related. How many accidents were because the driver truly allowed the cell phone to distract them: a) drop it and reach to pick it up; b) focus on the key pad too long (remember when you took the drivers license test? Part of the test was i believe to not take your eyes off the road more than 3 seconds) and how many of the accidents were related to some other distraction and they unfortunately just happened to be on the phone: a) dog ran out in the road; b) was looking for the cheapest gas station; c) missed your turn; d) gawking at by-standers. Those people gathering the statistics they just hear CELL PHONE, they don't hear what may

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