A bill headed by Washington Governor Chris Gregoire will make operating a motor vehicle while talking on a cell phone a criminal offense. Not surprising the issue of cell phones while driving is a hotly debated topic. If you’ve ever been in a near accident with these types of motorist you have my sympathy. I recently had a close encounter with one such motorist.
While traveling on the road today I saw something unmistakably familiar. A minivan was entering a school crosswalk not slowing down, but accelerating wildly. The car makes a near collision with a car in the adjacent lane. The driver wasn’t even fazed and continued to talk on their cell phone as if nothing happened. It’s not just cell phones but anything that could distract a driver makes them dangerous. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the recklessness of the distracted driver was borderline criminal.
A few weeks back there was a well publicized media debate between Horaldo Ravera and Bill O’Reilly over the topic of two near similar topics. The only problem was neither could agree to disagree. The topic was about an illegal immigrant whose first brush with the law ended with a DUI. Subsequently he wasn’t deported but allowed to drive another day. The driver later crashed his car into another car while drunk killing an innocent young girl. Even being drunk can be considered distracted, it doesn’t need to be conversation to distract you long enough to get into an accident. If a court finds someone responsible for an accident while being distracted, they should have their license revoked permanently. It would be punishment enough to have to take public transportation for the rest of their lives. Some of the worst offenders of cell phone use while operating motor vehicles seem to share the same arrogance towards other motorists.
These individuals really do need to truth shown to them, even if it means showing them the aftermath picture of every type of car related fatality. While everyone else follows the rules, it’s those individuals who believe they are somehow better then the average person to multitask while driving. A research study done at the University of Utah found that talking on a cell phone while driving slowed their reactive time by 30 percent, which is equivalent to a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level of .08*. The saddest part is the headline all end the same way, from the same article here’s what one mother had to go through:
“Just a few weeks ago, 17-year-old East High School student Lauren Mulkey was killed by driver on a cell phone. The man ran a red light and slammed into her car. Lauren’s mother, Linda, emphasized the most important part of this is raising awareness about cell phone use while driving.”
The author’s bias may be showing in the case, but only because I happened to be the other car that was nearly sideswiped by the minivan.
*Source doc KSL.com
