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When I left for my errands this morning, I put my cell phone in my pocket. I didn’t expect any calls, and I wouldn’t have answered them anyway, if I’d been driving when the phone rang. Or rather, when it vibrated. I pictured The A Team theme calling out from my pants while I was at the post office, and I didn’t like the picture much. So I switched to vibrate and stuck the phone in my pocket, where it stayed until I got home, not vibrating at all.
While I was out, I saw many drivers with cell phones held to their ears. The law prohibiting that takes effect tomorrow in California, and the local police are promising to enforce it. The law doesn’t affect me, because there was never a chance that I was going to talk and drive, at least while this phenomenon is still so new to me. But I wonder...
Will the streets be safer tomorrow? Will there really be fewer people weaving perilously close to the drainage ditches as they chat away distractedly? Will people who have never used hands-free devices before actually be more distracted as they drive and talk? And since texting while driving is still legal, will things get that much better, really?
Anyway, as I said, it doesn’t affect me, except as it affects all the other idiots and maniacs (thanks, George Carlin) on the road. Funny, though, that I should have exactly one day to drive under the old system, before it all changes. |
