The readers who think that I'm so liberal on all issues that I make Karl Marx look like a Republican may be surprised to hear this, but I'm wholeheartedly opposed to legislation that would make it illegal to use a cell phone while driving.
Yes, texting while driving is a bad idea -- and I've done it plenty -- but the act of talking on a phone and driving a car simultaneously should not be made a crime.
Can it be a little distracting? Yes. But here's what else is distracting while driving:
- Talking to or being talked to be a passenger
- Listening to music or talk radio
- Drinking a soda or a cup of coffee
- Shifting a stick shift
- Looking at billboards
- Using a GPS
- Fiddling with the air conditioner
I've done all of the above, and I'm proud to report that I've never caused an accident.
You know what else I've tried? Using a Bluetooth headset or speakerphone to carry on a conversation, and I can report that it's far more distracting that holding a phone up to your left ear. There's something about shouting into thin air that's unnatural and weird, and I can unequivocally admit that I drive worse when yapping hands-free.
Frankly, driving solo is the only time these days that I have the peace, quiet and freedom to carry on a long overdue personal and private conversation. My short commute has become my personal sanctum, especially considering I don't even really have cell phone coverage in my own home. Honestly, I frequently leave the radio off in the car, preferring peace and quiet and a short call to play catch up over the blaring background noise.
Talking and driving is about personal responsibility. If I was a crappy driver when using my phone, I wouldn't do it. But if a law if going to prohibit me from exercising my own judgment, then it had better look at all the other distractions present to drivers.
And now, the government is "tackling" the issue with a two-day summit held by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
"This is not dissimilar to solving the problem of drunk driving," LaHood told NPR today. "Public awareness is not at the level that it should be. Hopefully, our summit begins that process."
I'm not an expert, but I'd say that neither talking on the phone nor texting is anything like drunk driving.
That said, I'm fine with drawing the line at texting. We're all guilty of texting way too much, in all the wrong places. I may be especially guilty, since long-time readers know my hatred of voicemail. I wholeheartedly endorse pulling over, and I understand why 18 states and the District of Columbia passed laws against texting while driving.
What I don't support is the law that six states plus D.C. have implemented against talking on the phone without a hands-free device. I'm glad that Wisconsin isn't among the states banning it -- yet.
"Drivers always think they are not the problem," said Bill Horrey, a research scientist with the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, also on NPR.
"Research here and other places shows that people are very poorly calibrated to their own level of performance, and historically, drivers have always exhibited overconfidence in their skills," Horrey said.
I disagree. Unfortunately, some distractions are just part of the deal when it comes to operating a motor vehicle, and some of us are perfectly well equipped to handle it.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
