If there is one thing that can raise my hackles, it’s when people/governments intrude into my personal business.
In the latest bit of legislation that is neither necessary nor chock full o’ common sense, the Illinois House has approved a bill that would ban text messaging (and other forms of non-voice mobile communication) while driving.
It’s bad enough being told that you can’t pursue an otherwise entirely legal activity within the confines of your personal property, but the bill, as it’s written, allows police to stop you if it merely appears that you are just looking down:
Under this proposal, police officers can stop you just because they think you’re texting or surfing the Internet [...] If they see you constantly looking down at your phone and you never put it up to your ear, they’ll assume you’re probably not making a phone call.
Talk about your slippery slopes. If you happen to shift your gaze downward for a couple of seconds, it automatically means that you’re sending your BFF a txt? OMG! And how can a cop accurately make that determination at speed while driving? It’s a decision that would have to be made in a split-second.
And if you are pulled over, the burden of proof shifts to the driver:
Bring your cell phone records to court, and the judge will see if you were texting or surfing around the time police pulled you over.
Most people don’t text while they drive. But if you happen to be seen looking downward in your car — even for a split-second — by a cop, you can be pulled over. And then you have to spend your own time and money defending yourself from busybodies who can’t seem to stay out of other people’s business.
And really, that what this boils down to. If people would spend more time taking care of their own responsibilities and less time worrying about what other people are doing, our lawmakers wouldn’t be wasting their time with such ridiculous legislation.
For the most part, I agree with this. I think the trend of legislating to “save us from ourselves” is getting ridiculous. For example, I think people SHOULD wear seat belts in cars and helmets on motorcycles, but I don’t think it’s up to The Man™ to dictate that we HAVE to. If you want to scatter your cerebellum all over the road in the event of a crash, that’s your choice. However, in that event, I think said cerebellum scatterer should be ineligible for ANY sort of compensation in return for his/her stupidity. Maybe that just may reduce the number of bottom-feeder jizzholes- I mean, ambulance chasers- out there as well.
BUT…
I DO have to say that we as drivers have enough friggin’ distractions as it is- especially the non-driving-related kind (iPods, GPS locators, makeup application, etc.)- that “DWT” (driving while texting) needs to come to a halt. It’s bad enough nearly getting creamed because Biff/Muffy was talking to his/her BFF on the phone and not paying attention, but when Biff/Muffy isn’t even watching the road because s/he is texting…
I go virtually nowhere in a car nowadays without at least one of my kids in the car with me. I sure as phuck don’t want my kids injured or worse because some douchebag is busy texting their BFFs or homies or whatever the case. And I agree that most [responsible] people don’t text whilst driving, but I’d bet you’d be surprised at the number o’ people that do. Not that there’s any way to back that up or prove it or whatever, but you know what I mean.
Now, THAT being said, I reiterate that I agree in that allowing the Popo to pull someone over just because they looked down for more than a second or two is ridiculous, as is that you have to go to court with your cell phone records to be able to prove you weren’t texting.
What would REALLY be nice is for citizens to be able to bitch-slap DWT’ers. I wish there was a way to be able to EFFECTIVELY eliminate DWT, but I don’t think this “law” is the way to go, at least as it was written.
Anyway, bottom line, you’re right- if legislators would put a little more effort into cleaning up their OWN acts (especially in this friggin’ state) before they go worrying about sticking it to the little insignificant people they allegedly represent, we all might be a little better off.
What’s next- banning blinking while driving?
Yeah, sometimes I see both sides of this. I think what we forget is how obvious it is when someone is texting while driving or talking on the phone without a bluetooth, or whatever. I deal with this garbage every single day, going to work. It’s fairly prolific behavior, and the common thread between these people is that they are driving dangerously. For me, it’s worse because they are ultimately holding up traffic. All it takes is for someone to throw their brakes on, because of some dumbass texting, or by what is even more aggravating, being nosy about the guy being pulled over in the opposite-bound lanes, not realizing that they just slowed down by about 15mph…and there’s a string of motorists about to drive up their ass because of it. You just lost five minutes right there…Not that I agree with legislation like this; guess it can mean it leads to what you’re talking about. But I also don’t see cops going to those extremes. I mean, I know a couple DPOs, and if they’re off duty and at the bar I go to, you naturally start talking with them about their job. I don’t get the notion that’s how these folks operate…