Mayhem is everywhere....

So the NTSB announces the other day that they are urging a national ban of cell phone use while driving. That includes talking on the cell phones as well. Ok, I get the call for safety and I understand that cell phones are a huge distraction to drivers. I have been regularly annoyed by drivers on their cell phones that either are driving way too slow, are weaving in their traffic lane, come to abrupt stops because they are not paying attention to where they are going or cross three lanes of traffic because they were too busy talking on the phone. I get it, I really do. However, a national ban won't be able to do anything because it will definitely be difficult to police and it won't change anything. A ban on something like that is pointless. As one of my old coaches used to say, "You can't fix stupid", and that is exactly what this is, a ban on inconsiderate behavior.

Why do all these government agencies need to go to the absolute extreme when it comes to promoting something? If you take a look at the top 6 causes for accidents released by the World Health Organization you will see that distractions are the top cause of accidents. Followed by Driver Fatigue, looking at scenery, other people in the car, playing with the radio and reading. Distraction amount to about 25 and 50 percent of accidents, but the main contributor is not talking on your cell phone. The distractions are many, but according to a study conducted by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), texting -- rubbernecking -- or slowing down to gawk at another accident -- caused the most accidents, accounting for 16 percent of all distraction-related crashes. So as usual a government agency is off base with a support of a ban.

If you take the other top 5 causes of accidents how does the NTSB feel about those? What type a ban can we put in place for a person that has worked 27 straight hours and just wants to get home, not let him drive? Do we force car companies to make side windows opaque to keep drivers from looking at scenery? That just causes another safety issue, can't do that. Drivers shouldn't have people in their car to avoid getting into an accident. That will really freak out sports moms across the country. I'm not even going to comment on reading because it is just stupid that people even do that, and no offense, Darwinism needs to step in at that point

Besides the irrational thought about such a ban, how would it get enforced? There has been a seat belt law in place for many years now and people still drive without their seatbelts. A police officer could see someone talking on their cell phone, pull them over and by that time not only is the person off the phone, they were able to stow away the phone proving they were not on it. The court dockets will increase significantly on appeals for violations that can't be proven because of lack of evidence.

If you really want to keep people off the phone, the NTSB needs to urge the motor companies to have their vehicles equipped with a Bluetooth or wireless connection so drivers can sync up their phones to it. If that doesn't work they need to work with the FCC to urge all cell phone manufacturers to supply a Bluetooth headset with all the phones they sell. It doesn't have to be the best quality, just enough to use in the car. If they want a better one they you can sell them a better one.

Instead of coming up with solutions to improve safety in the car the NTSB feels the need to interfere with people’s lives. Rather than saying to be safer in your car purchase a headset to talk while you are driving, they just want to take it away. I guess my coach was right, you just can't fix stupid.

3D

Coming Right Atcha