Driving While Distracted

I notice a new study claims laws against texting while driving don't work. I hope no one paid for this study; I could have told them that a long time ago.

When New York State banned talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving, I thought it would really help. Wrong! Everyone ignores the ban. We live just 20 miles from the New York State line and do most everything in the Binghamton area. Never do we drive there without seeing many other drivers talking on their cells, trying to discipline the kids in the back seat, putting on makeup, rocking to the radio or any one of a dozen other distractions. Occasionally we'll even see someone reading, looking at a map, flirting with another driver, or weaving in and out of traffic while trying to find something in the car.

That's exactly what's happening with the ban on texting. Drivers just continue to do as they jolly well please and the only time they regret it is when they have an accident and that charge is added to the rest of the charges.

They are probably encouraged in this behavior by car commercials. You can get GPS, TV, game tables for the kids, and all sorts of other devices in your new car and isn't this wonderful? What happened to just driving and paying attention to what's going on on the road?

I've always loved to drive (got my license first thing on the morning of my 16th birthday in fact) but even I find myself cussing other drivers quite often, and normally my language is much better than that. It isn't that I'm a bad driver(despite being a woman); the problem is that other drivers are so inconsiderate, and it seems like 90% of drivers speed, while the other 10% drive too slow. Anyway, in all my years of driving I've never seen such recklessness and lack of consideration on the road, and that isn't just in the Binghamton area, it's everywhere.