06-09-2003, 03:26 PM
I find it amusing that the outcry against Cell Phones goes on at all. As Occhi pointed out, they don't account for a significant proportion of the accidents reported. It may well be that they are just a much more visible item.
I see folks driving and talking on their cell phones all the time. I also see folks reading newspapers and maps, adjusting make-up, driving while looking directly at the front seat passenger for conversation, yelling at kids in the back seat, etc. etc. I see people passing on hills. I see people driving way too fast for the road conditions. Heck, I read this weekend about someone getting caught on radar driving at 140 km per hour in dense fog on a freeway near here.
But the cell phone users stick out like sore thumbs, just because it is so much more visible - a focus for all the other road rage?
My mother and step-father have HAM radio licences and each have hand held ones in their cars, as well as the larger home units. (That, btw, is going to be my next project - I want to be able to talk to my mother during those four months a year she goes wilderness camping. :blink: Recent technical developments mean that I will be able to use the internet from my home computer to get into the HAM system and not even have to buy the radio itself. :D ) I am very glad they have them, and for them, they serve much the same purpose as many (most?) cell phones that are carried in cars do - get them in touch with help if they need it.
Just like so much else in life, the fact that a small group of people abuse a privilege is no reason to yank it for everyone else.
I see folks driving and talking on their cell phones all the time. I also see folks reading newspapers and maps, adjusting make-up, driving while looking directly at the front seat passenger for conversation, yelling at kids in the back seat, etc. etc. I see people passing on hills. I see people driving way too fast for the road conditions. Heck, I read this weekend about someone getting caught on radar driving at 140 km per hour in dense fog on a freeway near here.
But the cell phone users stick out like sore thumbs, just because it is so much more visible - a focus for all the other road rage?
My mother and step-father have HAM radio licences and each have hand held ones in their cars, as well as the larger home units. (That, btw, is going to be my next project - I want to be able to talk to my mother during those four months a year she goes wilderness camping. :blink: Recent technical developments mean that I will be able to use the internet from my home computer to get into the HAM system and not even have to buy the radio itself. :D ) I am very glad they have them, and for them, they serve much the same purpose as many (most?) cell phones that are carried in cars do - get them in touch with help if they need it.
Just like so much else in life, the fact that a small group of people abuse a privilege is no reason to yank it for everyone else.
And you may call it righteousness
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake