Blog of a discontent conforming noncomformist

A change to the proposed law

I found this in Tuesdays Grand Rapids Press. Rep. David Law is among a group of law makers in Michigan that would like to make it illegal for teenagers to talk on their cell phones while driving a car. These lawmakers think that Michigan should stand among the states that ban teenagers from talking on their cell phones while operating motor vehicles.

This article was written by Tom Rademacher. In the article, he states that he believes that the proposed law should be extended to all driver's. According to the article, there might very little resistance to this proposed law.

By Tom Rademacher The Grand Rapids Press

I wouldn't want to be a teenager right now.
To be cool, I would have to walk around with my pants hanging at half-buns. Some of the contemporary music would make me upchuck. I'd have to endure a funky tattoo and body piercings.

And if some Michigan lawmakers get their way, the day would arrive when I wouldn't be able to chit-chat on my cell phone while driving a vehicle.

Rep. David Law, a Republican from Commerce Township in Oakland County, thinks Michigan should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with nearly a dozen other states that have made it against the law for inexperienced drivers (that is code for "young") to use cell phones while driving.
The proposed fine for talking and driving at the same time? Fifty bucks -- money teens might spend in far more important ways. Like buying Aeropostale clothes
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Mike Vogt, an aide to Law, told me recently that so far, "The response has been wonderful," adding that his boss' office has heard "little to no opposition."

He even referred to another newspaper, which quoted a half-dozen teens as being in favor of the proposal.

But you know there's gotta be another faction out there, and I can hear their protests already: "You trust us to defend the cause of freedom in the Iraq War, but not to talk and drive at the same time? Like, hel-lo-oh!"

A big part of me wonders whether lawmakers should target other age groups as well, especially if they are serious about making the streets and highways safer.

From where I sit, some of the worst culprits seem to be businessmen in their 30s and 40s who slip into some very un-Zen-like state when they are on a cell phone, and simultaneously slow down, weave across traffic lines and forget basically everything they learned in driver-education class. When you "call them" on their dangerous behavior with a brief beep of your horn, they are more than willing to return the favor with a one-finger salute.

Then there's the 40-something soccer mom, bearing down on the rest of us in her SUV and yapping away about the latest sale at Leigh's, oblivious to speed limits, safe distances between vehicles and common courtesy. Then again, she's late for a really important luncheon
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And don't even get me going on the 65-and-over crowd, who aren't as prone to using cell phones, but when they do, defy death itself in the simple act of dialing a number. They might as well be trying to hula-hoop while stirring up a batch of Metamusil.

I, too, belong to a class of people that shouldn't be operating cell phones on the road. That's because we don't know how to operate them.

For weeks now, nobody has been able to get through to me because something called my "mailbox" is apparently "full." I have no idea how it got that way or how to empty it.
It would be safer for me to simply drive into a bridge abutment than try to figure out my phone while at the wheel.

If Rep. Law really wants to make the streets safe, he should abandon efforts to yank cell phones out of teen drivers' hands
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Take away their cars instead.

The insurance payments are killing me.

Apparently, someone finally has their head on straight. Although this law might be difficult to enforce, at least some people might listen. The ones who think it is safe to talk on their cell phones while driving their cars do not know how much damage they can do. Anything that can make our roads safer would be more than welcome.

posted by speeddemon0117 @ 8:54 PM