I know that there are plenty of more important things for me to write about.
And I know that when some people see the subject of this week’s editorial, they might wonder if my priorities are a bit skewed.
But the truth is that we all know the economy sucks and we all know that we’re in the middle of a presidential transition and we all know that there are a lot of empty houses for sale.
What’s bothering me this week is that a group of which I’ve been almost a lifetime member since my father gave me a membership when I got my driver’s license, the American Automobile Association, has decided to take my money and use it to become a national nanny.
They just released a study saying that even if you use a headset or a speakerphone, talking on a cellphone while you are driving is dangerous.
Now, when New York first passed a law making it illegal to talk on a phone and drive—absent a headset—I thought it was a bit of an intrusion in our lives. In fact, I was outraged.
Years of watching idiots do just that during my morning commute on the 95 changed my mind.
I first bought a wired headset and then the latest Bluetooth so I would not fall into that category.
They work real well.
I can keep both eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel while I run up my 6,000 minutes a month, trying my best to make sure my company is not a victim of the current recession.
The mere fact that it only costs $99 a month to be in that close communication with our various locations helps kill the lack of communications which used to cause major problems in a small business. (I also get to talk with my parents every day, which is more and more precious as we all get older.)
The thrust of the study is that talking on a cellphone is a greater distraction than tuning a radio or having a conversation in a car.
The study also concluded that people over 50 were more affected than people under 50.
And, finally, the study concluded that the various hands-free devices available didn’t solve the problem.
Here’s what they didn’t study: the skill level of the drivers they were testing.
When I got my driver’s license at age 16, I knew everything there was to know about a car except that I didn’t have much experience driving it. My reflexes were great but I had no judgment, which was developed from millions of miles of driving.
I suspect at age 56, my reflexes are not what they were when I was 16. But I now have the knowledge which comes along with those millions of miles and hundreds of thousands of hours of seat time.
For many people, a phone in their car is a relatively new phenomenon. I, on the other hand, have had phones in my cars since the mid 1970s.
AAA seems intent on using that study to pass laws which would have the effect of turning many of us into criminals.
Perhaps, they need to rethink that. As much as I appreciate my AAA card, I have one or two others in my wallet which come from organizations which are worried about getting me a tow truck when I need it.
While I agree that cellphones are abused to the detriment of my safety every day in Las Vegas, perhaps the answer is to study what might be done to teach people how to use them as safely as, say, tuning a car’s radio.
Because criminalizing cellphone use is going to be tougher than winning the war on drugs. In a word, impossible.
Especially if we have no intention of mandating driver’s education before we grant a driver’s license.
FRED WEINBERG
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