Letters posted here are associated with the following Salon Premium Member:

Kafziel

Published Letters: 1
Editor's Choice: 1

Thursday, July 24, 2008 07:50 PM
Original article: Hang up and drive

Talking and driving is bad, but...

We already have laws against running stoplights, swerving across lanes of traffic, blowing through crosswalks, failing to use a turn signal, etc. If those aren't enforced, why add a new law for drivers (and police, once the excitement dies down) to ignore?

I don't use a cell phone while driving but I don't really see what the big deal is, either. Maybe next they'll discover the shocking news that driving around with two kids in the backseat is distracting and annoying, too. We'll all have to put our kids in muzzles and straitjackets before we get on the road, or install soundproof shields between the front and back seats like a New York City taxi.

Smoking while driving is at least as distracting as talking on the phone, and I see people doing that all the time. And eating hamburgers. And listening to the radio. And having conversations with people who are actually sitting next to them. Are you telling me you can't tune out your significant other on the phone for ten seconds (a skill most folks have perfected long before marriage) but a DVD player blaring SpongeBob from the back of your headrest is no bother at all? Come on.

The problem lies in properly enforcing the laws we already have, not in creating new ones.

Most Active Letters Threads

337

A key British official reminds us of the forgotten anthrax attack

A vast array of establishment and expert sources do not believe this episode was really resolved.
323

Tough-guy John Bolton, hiding under his bed

As usual, right-wing pseudo-warriors are drowning in extreme cowardice.
154

Phil Carter's resignation from key detainee policy post

Many of the "War on Terror" policies he spent years condemning were ones expressly embraced by Obama.
139

Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?

Was it unreasonable to expect him to adhere to his commitments regarding the Constitution?
99

Palin, Prejean: Beastly treatment for beauties

The governor turned author must fight what the pageant queen learned: Politics and hotness make strange bedfellows

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon