Cell Phone Ban Won't Work -- Too Bad

If you know anything about the crazy experiment called Prohibition, you know that government doesn’t do so well when it decides to ban something that people want – and that they’ve already enjoyed.

That’s why talk of a ban on all phone use in cars is doomed to failure. Like the ban on drink, such a law would be widely ignored, and that only leads to a more-general contempt of authority and law-enforcers.  Never a good thing in a civil society.

In an ideal world, I’d be all for this one. I have a cell phone (imposed on me by an employer), but I don’t know the number.  (My wife and kids do – oh, and so does the boss.) Yes, I’ve answered the phone while driving, generally to say, “Hi, I’m driving, call me back.” But I’m not addicted to my cell, and, frankly, I don’t understand those who are.

Drivers on cell phones – hand-held or otherwise – think they can do two things at one. That’s OK if you’re in a nice, safe office and you’re sending an email while, I don’t know, listening to music or even having a conversation with a co-worker.

But when you’re driving a car at whatever speed, your attention needs to be focused on the task at hand. That’s why I’ve never bought into the hands-free copout. Sure, it’s better than hand-held, but still – are you really paying attention while you’re yapping about some urgent matter while flying down the Parkway at 85 miles an hour? Please.

Sorry, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who feel the desperate need to always be in touch, even while behind the wheel. No doubt there are emergencies at times. No doubt some calls are very important. But still – how many calls have you made from a moving car that were absolutely, positively urgent?

And regardless of the urgency, it won’t seem so urgent if you plow into another car and kill or maim somebody. The call won’t matter if you run over some innocent pedestrian.

So you’d think a crabby old guy like myself would support measures to get rid of them from cars. I only wish we could. I think it’s too late, and it will wind up being another law that nobody bothers to enforce. That does nothing to inspire confidence in the justice system.

That said, penalties against texting can and should be stiffened, and the laws strictly enforced. I can’t believe I live in a world where people think they can text while driving. That isn’t just stupid. It is criminally self-indulgent.

Texting while driving was banned almost as soon as it became popular, so it isn’t the same as chatting up a friend while switching lanes at high speeds.

Unless we’re prepared to triple the number of cops on the roads, banning cell phone use is, unfortunately, doomed to failure.