Mayhem is everywhere….
So the NTSB announces the other day
that they are urging a national ban of cell phone use while driving. That
includes talking on the cell phones as well. Ok, I get the call for safety and
I understand that cell phones are a huge distraction to drivers. I have been
regularly annoyed by drivers on their cell phones that either are driving way
too slow, are weaving in their traffic lane, come to abrupt stops because they
are not paying attention to where they are going or cross three lanes of
traffic because they were too busy talking on the phone. I get it, I really do.
However, a national ban won’t be able to do anything because it will definitely
be difficult to police and it won’t change anything. A ban on something like
that is pointless. As one of my old coaches used to say, “You can’t fix
stupid”, and that is exactly what this is, a ban on inconsiderate
behavior.
need to go to the absolute extreme when it comes to promoting something? If you
take a look at the top 6 causes for accidents released by the World Health
Organization you will see that distractions are the top cause of accidents.
Followed by Driver Fatigue, looking at scenery, other people in the car,
playing with the radio and reading. Distraction amount to about 25 and 50
percent of accidents, but the main contributor is not talking on your cell
phone. The distractions are many, but according to a study conducted by the
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Virginia Commonwealth
University (VCU), texting — rubbernecking — or
slowing down to gawk at another accident — caused the most accidents,
accounting for 16 percent of all distraction-related crashes. So as usual a
government agency is off base with a support of a ban.
of accidents how does the NTSB feel about those? What type a ban can we put in
place for a person that has worked 27 straight hours and just wants to get
home, not let him drive? Do we force car companies to make side windows opaque
to keep drivers from looking at scenery? That just causes another safety issue,
can’t do that. Drivers shouldn’t have people in their car to avoid getting into
an accident. That will really freak out sports moms across the country. I’m not
even going to comment on reading because it is just stupid that people even do
that, and no offense, Darwinism needs to step in at that point
such a ban, how would it get enforced? There has been a seat belt law in place
for many years now and people still drive without their seatbelts. A police
officer could see someone talking on their cell phone, pull them over and by
that time not only is the person off the phone, they were able to stow away the
phone proving they were not on it. The court dockets will increase
significantly on appeals for violations that can’t be proven because of lack of
evidence.
off the phone, the NTSB needs to urge the motor companies to have their
vehicles equipped with a Bluetooth or wireless connection so drivers can sync
up their phones to it. If that doesn’t work they need to work with the FCC to
urge all cell phone manufacturers to supply a Bluetooth headset with all the
phones they sell. It doesn’t have to be the best quality, just enough to use in
the car. If they want a better one they you can sell them a better one.
to improve safety in the car the NTSB feels the need to interfere with people’s
lives. Rather than saying to be safer in your car purchase a headset to talk
while you are driving, they just want to take it away. I guess my coach was
right, you just can’t fix stupid.