In an age where multi-tasking is ever more being considered essential to our survival, driving and texting is without doubt the most stupid and dangerous, and yet it continues unabated.
The evidence is irrefutable and glaring: driving and using a cell phone is the equivalent of drunk driving, while driving and texting is the same as being asleep at the wheel for a brief moment.
Taken in the context of other typical “distractions” on busy Phoenix roads and freeways such as tailgating, excessive speed and general inconsiderate driving, the cell phone comes into a category of its own but not dissimilar to Arizona’s “Open/carry” weapons legislation. We might start seeing bumper stickers saying, “Have Cell Phone, Might Kill.”
Isn’t it high time that our legislators face this real menace and introduce laws that really have bite? Why should we have to accept that people will continue to be killed, maimed and injured by those drivers who simply feel it is imperative to be constantly texting and driving? You either do one or the other, but not both at the same time.
Until that happens, a useful formatted text for drivers to have handy would be: “I might not see you later. I’m on the way to the morgue.”
Maxwell Coulthard
