I just got back from my weekly trip to Atlanta (always a “fun” time). I have mused over the past 5+ years of making this trip just how nice it would be to have one of those gadgets in the back window of my car like Matt Helm (Dean Martin) did in “The Wrecking Crew”. (If you’ve never seen this movie, it is a James Bond spoof and there was a gadget in his car that translated what he said into a microphone into a scrolling LED sign in his back window.)
As I was driving down the expressway, I had to nearly slam on my brakes to avoid an idiot in a green Miata. Naturally, he was talking on his cell phone. When I finally got a chance to go around him, I noticed that not only was he holding his cell phone in his right hand, he had a cigarette in his left (draped over the steering wheel)and TOOK HIS HAND OFF THE WHEEL TO TAKE A DRAG.
Then, later in the day in the Walmart parking lot, another idiot made a U-Turn in the parking lot in front of me and damned near hit me … talking on his cell phone without paying attention to anything else.
The first message my sign would have said was “Get off the phone and DRIVE”. Immediately followed by “Get a Bluetooth!”. (But would they have noticed the sign?)
I know it’s illegal in many states to drive while talking on your cell phone. It’s not yet in Georgia (except for school bus drivers). But that seem to be the only way to deter people. As Ron White says, “you can’t fix stupid”. Seems you have to legislate the fix.
End of rant.