Ban the Cell Phone Ban, man!

There is so much on my mind today I am having a tough time sorting it all out. I suppose the stuff that is not related to real estate I could cross right off the list but everything is related in my mind today from the unscrupulous Countrywide bankers to the midwest tornado victims. But first… the cell phone bans.

It is now illegal to text while driving in the state of Michigan. This boils my blood. Maybe not so much at the law but at the NEED for this law.

Text messaging causes distraction while driving which can lead to impaired driving, mistakes, crashes, and death. All true.

On occasion somebody’s going to do something stupid/absent minded/make a bad judgment call and use something improperly. Food, for instance, is misused every day. People die every day from complications associated with over eating. Are we going to tell people what they can and cannot eat? Too much of a stretch? What about eating while driving? I bet there is a statistic for accidents caused by driving one handed with food in the other or frazzled moms blowing on fries and passing out the food out of the McDonald’s bag to a car load of kids. So do we ban eating and driving? Ever spilled your coffee on your lap while driving? That’s a pretty big distraction. What about smoking and driving? Taking your eyes of the road to light the cigarette, flick it, again – driving one handed. Those are all big distractions. You know what? So is fiddling with the radio. We should just stop manufacturers from installing car stereos. So we’re super safe.

I have texted while driving without thinking of it any more seriously than glancing at the map or the gps.Awareness has taught me otherwise and I no longer answer quick messages while driving. I pull over if something needs my attention. And I’ll send a quick “confirmed!” or something similar at a red light. As adults and experienced drivers we should be able to handle managing our own cell phone usage! Teens and novice drivers should have restrictions. 

Anyway, it is what it is, and we now have this texting ban. I’m sure we’re all safer in the big picture. What has me the most cheezed though is that there are some who are trying to get cell phones completely banned from driving. I believe our friends in North Carolina already have that piece of nonsense in place. Stupid Oprah of all people is getting folks fired up. Now Ohpry, when’s the last time you had to drive yourself OR make a phone call to handle any appointments or obligations of your own? This isn’t an all or nothing issue. The logical solution lies somewhere in the middle.

Do you have any idea how much I drive and how much my phone rings and chirps and beeps, as a real estate agent? I would never get any peaceful time with my family if I waited until I was not driving to answer all my calls. I realize there is hands free and they will probably not mess with that, but it doesn’t change the fact that call phone bans are stupid. 

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Apparently I was able to focus once I got on a roll. You’ll have to come back later to read my Country Wide Mortgage got burned for deceiving people celebration post! It’s much more upbeat!