If I understand things correctly, the State of Maryland is well on its way to joining the ranks of Hands-free Cel Phone Use While Driving states. Yeah, I get it. Lots of stats. Accidents from cel phone use, from texting. It’s dangerous. Et cetera. Whatever. But so is putting on make-up while driving, and I don’t see any laws prohibiting that. So is eating while driving. So is shaving while driving. (Yes, I’ve seen that more than once!) And so is giving or getting a blow job while driving. Or masturbating. Or whatever the heck folk do while driving.
I get it. Disruptive actions can be dangerous on the road. What makes me yawn and roll my eyes is the desire to micro-manage behavior through laws. Thomas Paine said it centuries ago, “Common Sense!” Yo, you can’t legislate common sense. Cultural values are where it’s at. Culture. Peer pressure. Expectations. If it’s socially acceptable to do as this character in the graphic is doing — and it is — then no law singling out one of those behaviors will mean anything. Laws don’t change behavior. People have to want to change to be included, connected, accepted, a part of the tribe. Fer realz.
To boot, all this time, all this tax money. All this administration for laws changed, police work, and so on. And for what? To give tickets out for a specific, identifiable behavior when there are other equally disruptive behaviors that are not, per se, against the law. Yawn.
Yeah, I’ll get my hands-free set, or whatever I need, so that I can be inside the letter of the law while driving and talking on the phone. But they might as well arrest me now. I use my phone for GPS and directions. It’s what I do. Most everyday. So cuff me.
Rock on.
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Oh, and God, if you’re listening, hey, um, JK on the “arrest me now” bit, cool?
