Transportation Secretary LaHood Still Waging War On Distracted Driving
What, you thought Ray LaHood’s war on distracted driving would be limited to a lot of hot air, a do-nothing summit and a ban on federal employees text messaging in federal vehicles? Yeah, so did we. Turns out that the position of Transportation Secretary leaves plenty of time for windmill tilting, as the WSJ reports LaHood is back on his old hobbyhorse. The SecTrans is pushing for the federal ban on texting while driving, and he’s back to the old double-nickel strategy: deny federal highway funding to states that refuse to pass local bans on texting while driving. Which is certainly better than some of the more Patriot Act-esque enforcement methods LaHood had been considering. Still, didn’t the mess that was the distracted driving summit convince LaHood that it’s impossible to legislate against stupidity, especially when there’s such a lucrative business in perpetuating said stupidity? Guess not.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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OK. Texting while driving is stupid. So is eating, putting on makeup, programming your satellite radio or ANYTHING that effects your limited driving skills. So now what? Outlaw all of these? Why can't we just accept the fact that humans driving in automobiles are dangerous? I mean come on! We are just a blink from being monkeys! Why can't we accept the fact that many things we do for enjoyment or life very likely will shorten the longevity of our lives? Soon it will be red light cameras catching us driving without our hands at 10 and 2...or whatever it was they taught us in drivers ed
It's already illegal to "drive while distracted" in California. It doesn't mention texting specifically, but I don't think it has to. Just tell cops to remember that speeding isn't the only law on the books.
Considering that driving while distracted probably kills more people and costs more money than terrorism, it's probably worth investing in a "War on Distracted Driving" It's also means that "The War on Terror" and "The War on Drugs" should be deprioritized and shoved somewhere well behind real threats like "The War on Slipping In the Shower" and "The War on Not Wearing Bike Helmets", while real killers like "The War on High Fructose Corn Syrup" should be given a the lion's share of funding and attention.