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Friday, July 25, 2008 12:00 AM

Hang up and drive

Think driving while talking on the cellphone is safe as long as you use a headset, as new laws require? Stop yammering and read this article.

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  • Thursday, July 24, 2008 07:50 PM

    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.

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