Shut Up And Drive!

Because of my recent rant on why the government has no damn right to tell us to wear seatbelts, it may suprise people that I think a law that tells people to "Shut up and drive," is long overdue. Well, let me explain why this is such a great idea.

It's an American choice to wear a seatbelt. We shouldn't be made to wear a seatbelt just because a few insanely stupid people are allowed to have licenses. Otherwise, maybe dumb, angry, overly agressive drivers just shouldn't have licenses. I can offer chapter and verse how you cut insurance rates that are hiked because some tool didn't want to buckle up. But this rant isn't about that.

Someone not wearing a seatbelt doesn't endanger my life or threaten my well being, a cell phone user does. People who refuse to purchase a hands-free unit for their Nokia and then have the nerve to flaunt their six figure income by buying a status symbol such as a Mercedes or BMW, shouldn't be allowed cell phone privledges. They're willing to spend fifty thousand to one-hundred thousand dollars on a friggin' car, but not thirty bucks for a hands free unit.

So the government has to step in because there are too many cell phone related traffic accidents.

Incidently, "that awful dress Kim wore to Anastasia's wedding Saturday..." is not considered "stop the world I need to make a friggin' phone call during rush hour traffic" priority. And research shows that most of these calls are being made just because the user has a cell phone. The call isn't necessarily important. In fact, more often than not, it isn't.

So yes. I'm happy Beacon Hill is stepping in and shutting people's phones off. Violators who still won't use the now legally required hands-free unit should be forced to publish their number on the bumper of their car so the rest of us can call them and say, "Shut up and drive!"