Sat in traffic once with a lady in a red sports car behind me. I could see her with her phone in her left hand, a lit cigarette AND lipstick in the other hand, while simultaneously trying to shift gears. Didn't hear any reports otherwise so I'm hoping that she managed to get to her destination without maiming herself or some poor innocent Saul on the road to Damascus.For as transformative a technology the ubiquitous cell phone has become, our good sense hasn't been anywhere near as pervasive. Sure there were people before who caused accidents while rummaging around in the glove compartment of fiddling with the radio, but more and more I see examples of reckless driving with folks who are too distracted by their voice or text conversations to pay attention to what's going on around them. Purely anecdotal perhaps, but I don't have the heft of a massive study of the effects of all of this behind me, so what do I know?
Maybe the sextant and astrolabe weren't as sophisticated as our very helpful GPS units, but ancient mariners weren't known to run aground while trying to break-up via text messages either. The cell phone companies haven't exactly worked hard to deter these practices. Perfunctory warnings about texting or calling while driving are geared towards protecting against lawsuits and are not the least bit interested in saving us from ourselves. I'll wait for an aggressive, industry sponsored public service campaign discouraging texting-while-driving with baited breath.
Put down the phone and keep both hands on the wheel. Or at least if you're intent on killing yourself, do it with cigarettes, booze and Twinkies in the comfort of your own home.
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