Remember the days before cell phones? In my business, it has been required for certain people to be able to get in touch with me at will. So prior to cell phones, I carried around a pager the size of a garage door opener. If someone should call while I was ranting and raging in traffic, I would have to pull off into God knows where to find a pay phone to call with a calling card that cost something like 30 cents a minute. Generally, it wouldn’t be a business call which would further my already perpetuated frustrations.
Today, cell phones have made that portion of life easier, I think. I can call anywhere with free long distance and fortunately, and yes, unfortunately, anyone can call me at anytime. All of this without the inconvenience of pay phones.
New York passed a law about a 8 to 10 months ago that said it is illegal to use your phone while driving a vehicle. This was due to a large amount of accidents that occur as people try to talk, chew gum, and operate a 2 ton mass of steel moving about without much attention of the operator. When this law came about, it pissed me off. It seemed like a few bad apples had just started the wheels of justice to run over those of us that were responsible and attentive drivers. Other states were sure to follow suit, and since have.
I have to give testament to my own shortcomings in this regard as well. I currently drive a Jeep Wrangler. One of the best all-purpose vehicles ever made. I love the rag-top, the 5-speed, pretty good power, and the camaraderie of other Jeep Wrangler drivers is really cool. However, due to some freak of nature, people never call me on my cell phone when I’m going down a straight stretch of interstate. They only seem to call when I’m in a turn, in traffic, shifting from 1st to 2nd, while I have a coiled cord running from my cell phone to the cigarette lighter to charge the phone, all of this and I’m smoking a cigarette at the same time. And of course, I feel obligated to answer the phone while juggling all of the pre-mentioned tasks. People, do not try this away from home. I am an experienced, Jeep drivin’, cell-phone talkin, gear shiftin’, cigarette smokin’ professional. Actually the point being, this is not a safe practice. Now, I didn’t start this rant to tell you all of my faults, I want to tell you everyone else’s. Everyone listens to the radio and drives. This doesn’t seem to be an issue of distraction. Why is it most people lose all sense of competency when they have to talk and drive at the same time. If someone is sitting next to you, do you just go stupid when you drive. NO! Most people can manage to talk to the person next to them, they just can’t seem to talk on a phone. I don’t understand how some women can put makeup on in traffic, but cannot figure out what it means when the damn light at the intersection is for when it turns green. Or even worse, how people can manage to drive a car and successfully be able to find something in the glove box on the passenger side of their car, yet when their on a phone they will ignore a red light through a busy intersection. Tell me how it is possible that people find it so distracting on dialing a phone. Why do you have to look? All of us have used the telephone since we were practically old enough to talk. The f*&king numbers are still in the exact same place - they haven’t been re-arranged just because it’s a cell phone!
So is the solution to outlaw cell phones in the car? I personally will break that law every time my phone rings, I guarantee it. There are many options now available for cell phones, voice dialing, speakerphone, ear buds with microphones that plug into your phone. So why not make it mandatory to use such things. I think by doing so, it would eliminate some of these idiotic errors people seem to make because they forget what the main objective is while driving. “Avoid all objects whether moving or stationary.” I also believe if it were mandatory for the use of hands-free devices while driving, that car manufacturers and cell phone manufacturers would develop devices that would help this situation. Why not, we have a capitalistic society, God bless us for it, if someone can make a buck on something that is worth buying - make it, they will come.
Well, I must now close, I just received a call on my cell phone. Therefore, I don’t want to steer this conversation in the wrong direction. (I know that line was stupid, but it’s a little funny, right.)
Have a good one, and for God’s sake be careful out there.
Michael D. Donahoe
Today, cell phones have made that portion of life easier, I think. I can call anywhere with free long distance and fortunately, and yes, unfortunately, anyone can call me at anytime. All of this without the inconvenience of pay phones.
New York passed a law about a 8 to 10 months ago that said it is illegal to use your phone while driving a vehicle. This was due to a large amount of accidents that occur as people try to talk, chew gum, and operate a 2 ton mass of steel moving about without much attention of the operator. When this law came about, it pissed me off. It seemed like a few bad apples had just started the wheels of justice to run over those of us that were responsible and attentive drivers. Other states were sure to follow suit, and since have.
I have to give testament to my own shortcomings in this regard as well. I currently drive a Jeep Wrangler. One of the best all-purpose vehicles ever made. I love the rag-top, the 5-speed, pretty good power, and the camaraderie of other Jeep Wrangler drivers is really cool. However, due to some freak of nature, people never call me on my cell phone when I’m going down a straight stretch of interstate. They only seem to call when I’m in a turn, in traffic, shifting from 1st to 2nd, while I have a coiled cord running from my cell phone to the cigarette lighter to charge the phone, all of this and I’m smoking a cigarette at the same time. And of course, I feel obligated to answer the phone while juggling all of the pre-mentioned tasks. People, do not try this away from home. I am an experienced, Jeep drivin’, cell-phone talkin, gear shiftin’, cigarette smokin’ professional. Actually the point being, this is not a safe practice. Now, I didn’t start this rant to tell you all of my faults, I want to tell you everyone else’s. Everyone listens to the radio and drives. This doesn’t seem to be an issue of distraction. Why is it most people lose all sense of competency when they have to talk and drive at the same time. If someone is sitting next to you, do you just go stupid when you drive. NO! Most people can manage to talk to the person next to them, they just can’t seem to talk on a phone. I don’t understand how some women can put makeup on in traffic, but cannot figure out what it means when the damn light at the intersection is for when it turns green. Or even worse, how people can manage to drive a car and successfully be able to find something in the glove box on the passenger side of their car, yet when their on a phone they will ignore a red light through a busy intersection. Tell me how it is possible that people find it so distracting on dialing a phone. Why do you have to look? All of us have used the telephone since we were practically old enough to talk. The f*&king numbers are still in the exact same place - they haven’t been re-arranged just because it’s a cell phone!
So is the solution to outlaw cell phones in the car? I personally will break that law every time my phone rings, I guarantee it. There are many options now available for cell phones, voice dialing, speakerphone, ear buds with microphones that plug into your phone. So why not make it mandatory to use such things. I think by doing so, it would eliminate some of these idiotic errors people seem to make because they forget what the main objective is while driving. “Avoid all objects whether moving or stationary.” I also believe if it were mandatory for the use of hands-free devices while driving, that car manufacturers and cell phone manufacturers would develop devices that would help this situation. Why not, we have a capitalistic society, God bless us for it, if someone can make a buck on something that is worth buying - make it, they will come.
Well, I must now close, I just received a call on my cell phone. Therefore, I don’t want to steer this conversation in the wrong direction. (I know that line was stupid, but it’s a little funny, right.)
Have a good one, and for God’s sake be careful out there.
Michael D. Donahoe
