recently, Washington State passed a law that will (in the future) make it illegal to text while driving (scroll down a bit). starting January 1st 2008, this will not only be reckless and illogical (as it is now) but illegal.

a further measure makes it illegal, starting July 1st 2008, to speak on a mobile phone without a hands-free device. while this makes less sense, Washington is not one to fall too far behind in copying any nanny-state legislation from other places (what took them so long? NY did this years ago).

do these measures go far enough? do we need a separate, specific law for each type of distracted driving, or should we bolster a police officers ability to interpret on-scene what counts, and cite people accordingly?

case in point: riding the bus, i see a lot of people in a lot of cars doing a lot of stupid crap. most of it is what you would expect: talking on the phone, applying makeup. reading a book. reading the newspaper. (while traffic is moving at nearly the speed limit). but today, something blew my mind and made veins stick out all over my head.

i observed a man in a small pickup truck, changing lanes, at highway speeds, holding in his left hand, a cereal bowl. alternating the right hand between the wheel, and the spoon.

at what point is the safety of the general public less valuable than your personal comfort? i would put the public at risk, perhaps, if i needed to speed to the hospital due to some horrific wound.

this guy could have damn near killed someone over breakfast. is it “east coast” of me to think, if you woke up that late, you don’t deserve breakfast. get your monkey ass to work and deal with it?

Posted on June 20th, 2007 by mike
Filed under: vehicles