Texting While Driving Could be Federal Crime Soon
The federal government has been getting all up in your business lately. One federal whistle blower last year said he believes the National Security Agency is storing all our emails. You know, just in case. And President Obama recently flip-flopped on medical marijuana, saying flat out that pot businesses were fair game for federal agents, even in states like California, where they're somewhat legal.
Now it's time for Big Government to get deeper inside your car and ride with you on your way to work and school:
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced this week that his Department of Transportation is asking Congress to ban cellphone use by motorists -- nationwide.
Wow, a federal crime for texting while driving? Meanwhile driving like an idiot is perfectly okay on city, state and national levels.
LaHood was simply formalizing what the National Transportation Safety Board said last year when it called for a nationwide ban following a study of a 2010 Missouri highway crash that killed two and injured 38 after a texting pickup driver lost control.
Ruined it for 40 people, and 311 million.
Still, retards will be retards, regardless of what's in their hands.
Horace Cooper, adjunct fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research, called b.s. on the Obama administration's move today:
Last year we warned that Washington, DC would respond to the problem of distracted driving with a heavy handed solution. One that demonstrates that Washington is out of sync with the needs of mainstreet Americans. Instead of solutions which are voluntary and rely on education and technology, LaHood seeks out the hysterical approach of banning cell phone use outright -- this is a solution whose time hasn't come.
Agreed. There are so many bad drivers out there. Some are talking and texting. Many aren't. Cops have been driving and using handheld radios for decades. You don't see us bitching about it.
What's more, the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at UC Berkeley just last month said California's laws are dissuading drivers from using their phones behind the wheel. Since the state banned putting phone-to-ear behind the wheel in 2008, it states:
... Hand-held cell phone driver deaths went down 47 percent ...
We don't need Uncle Sam riding shotgun. It's nanny-state politics. It's un-American.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
