Distracted Driving

I know that this topic has been discussed here a few times, but I would like to add my own observations.

Distracted driving is the most dangerous thing I have seen on the road today. I don't think it can truly even compare to drunk driving because there are fewer drunks on the road than distracted drivers. Don't get me wrong, I am also against drunk driving and driving under influence of drugs, but talking and texting on cell phones has been the major focus of DD legislation because it is the worst, and most observable form of distraction.

Studies have shown, and I have observed, that talking on the phone takes a certain amount of attention away from driving and places that attention within the phone conversation. Let's just face it. You cannot have a conversation with someone on the phone without paying attention to that conversion. Often, the attention being paid to the phone call takes priority over the driving.

There are some people who can do this quite well, but many, although they perceive themselves to be great multi-taskers, are fooling themselves. They think they are great at this because they don't notice anything else happening around them other than what they are hearing over the phone. They don't see people trying to avoid them as they cross into other lanes. They don't hear horns blowing at them. They don't notice pedestrians in their path, they don't notice other drivers snaking them because they speed up to 80 mph. while listening, then slow down to 50 mph. when talking, etc. They have focused most of their concentration on the phone conversation as a priority, leaving only a very small, insignificant portion of automatic brain function to turn the wheel, step on the gas and step on the brakes. Observation of what is happening around them has been abandoned.

I have seen people who can't even walk and have a phone conversation. They fall over curbs, fall into ditches, cross the street without noticing traffic, walk into inanimate objects and other people, etc. Those people also believe themselves to be good multi-taskers.

But there are an uncountable number of other distractions. We have people who cannot talk or listen to other passengers in the car without turning to look at them, people fascinated by the scenery around them, people who strap their babies into immovable cocoons in the back seat for safety, but must look behind them every time the baby makes a noise, people who change clothes, put on makeup, style hair, apply fingernail polish, shave, read newspapers and books, eat messy foods causing them to constantly wipe at whatever fell on their shirt or in their lap, search for favorite CD's, have carnal knowledge, on and on.

Here are some of the things distracted drivers do: weave across lanes, suddenly step on the breaks without bothering with a turn signal before turning, veer across an entire 4 – 5-lane expressway to make an exit because they weren't paying attention, run through stop signs and lights, slow down and speed up erratically, turn into crosswalks without noticing that there are pedestrians present, too many things to list at any one sitting.

One of my pet peeves is the person who does not know the purpose of the turn-signal feature on the car. I know that turn signals are not an optional feature because I had the pleasure of driving a 1929 Model T at a car show at work and, guess what? It had been retrofitted with turn signals in order to be legally driven. If I am behind you with traffic moving at a good clip and you suddenly mash on the brakes for no apparent reason, activating the turn signal only as you are going around your turn, what do you think might happen?

No one can legislate against all of the stupid things people do, whether inside or outside of a vehicle, but I do believe that the talking/texting laws I have seen enacted all over the country are justified.