Cellphones, Texting,
Driving, Congress, and Danger
Cell Tower
Life Bluetube Headsets
Cell Phone Towers Health Effects
EM Field Meter
Cell Phone Sensitivity
The New York Times is reporting that the National Highway
Traffic and Safety Administration decided not to go forward
with a large study on the potential distractions of using a
cell phone while driving and held back data and research
already gathered, because there was a fear it would anger
Congress.
On the one hand that sounds like your typical government
with its head in the sand story (or lobbyists hands in their
back pockets), and on the other hand I’m glad they didn’t
fund the full study. Why?
Quite honestly, I don’t think there need to be new laws put
on the books about using cell phones, and texting while
driving. There are already laws on the books about reckless
driving and to my mind anyone who is texting while driving
is already guilty enough. The same holds true, in my
opinion, for those who don’t use a hands free solution while
talking on the phone and driving. If we need to spend money
to determine if using hand held devices while driving is a
potential danger, then I think we need to look more at the
deficiencies caused by having our heads stuck in places
where they don’t belong.
Yes, states have enacted hands free laws, but let’s face it,
they don’t really solve the issue because in most cases you
can still physically dial a cell phone under the existing
laws. This “compromise” came about because many Bluetooth
and Voice Control solutions just don’t work as well as we’d
like them to, if at all, and the cell phone industry lobbied
for things not to go that far so as to keep their costs
down. Frankly, the newer laws already passed are so full of
loopholes as to be meaningless.
Today all of the research is being made public (you can see
them on the NYTimes site.) I’m sure it will provoke cries
for more stringent laws. I say save us all the aggravation
and the expense and just enforce the laws we already have,
even if it upsets Congress or whomever. The next thing you
know we’ll be funding studies about passing laws regarding
texting while walking. Although I don’t think that would
have helped this lady.
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Bhutan, Thimphu
Austin, Texas, USA
Serbia, Belgrade
Nigeria, Abuja
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