Multitasking at 45 m.p.h.
By Patrick P. McNally It seems like a pretty reasonable rule: When you are driving, stay off of your cell phone.
By Patrick P. McNally
It seems like a pretty reasonable rule: When you are driving, stay off of your cell phone.
After all, there is enough to do already. There are the physical and mental demands of operating a vehicle, combined with the extracurricular activities of finding a decent tune on the radio, checking the time, adjusting the temperature, making sure your hair looks all right in the rear-view mirror, and perhaps attempting to have a conversation with a passenger, to name a few.
It's a logical conclusion that another activity, such as dialing and talking to somebody on a phone, is not needed.
But until somebody passes a law against it, drivers will continue to operate two-ton vehicles through traffic while catching up with their friends and family. Others, mostly younger drivers, even text while driving, although I have no idea how anyone can type on a tiny keyboard while keeping a hand on the wheel.
I confess that I often use time in the car to talk with my wife. With two teenage children in the house, it is often the only uninterrupted conversation we have all day. And I am happy to say it has never been a problem - until one day last week.
I was going to pick up my daughter from school, and I used the usually dull drive to catch up with an old colleague. Our conversation ran the gamut from the Eagles draftees to the electability of a certain new Democratic senator. Turning onto Roosevelt Boulevard is a dicey proposition in any case, but I thought I had little trouble pulling into my lane while talking.
That's when a horn sounded. I naturally assumed it was intended for someone else. The irate driver to my left informed me otherwise. "Hey!" he screamed at me. "You cut me off! We could have had an accident!"
I had seen the other car in a side mirror and pulled into the right lane. He was smart enough to pull into the left lane. Was my conversation part of the problem? Perhaps, and the call was a little too close call for my liking.
Through it all, I hadn't ended my cell-phone conversation. Why should I? It's legal, and while it was a close call, there was no accident.
But the experience made me realize that cell-phone legislation could prevent me from having some other accident.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives recently rejected a bill to ban use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Philadelphia's City Council passed a cell-phone ban, but sources at the state level have already said city officials have no right to enact their own driving laws.
Even if the city could do so, a cell-phone ban should be statewide. Five states have already restricted the use of cell phones while driving, including three of our neighbors: New Jersey, Delaware, and New York.
This is a time when good sense must take precedence over convenience. The state requires us to register our vehicles, get a license to drive, and carry insurance. For safety's sake, it should legislate the cell phones out of our hands so we can put them back on the steering wheel, where they belong.
