Hang Up

For all of us cheering the National Transportation Safety Board’s call for a ban on hand-held cell phone calls and texts while driving, we might want to stop clapping and start calling (please not while driving), writing, e-mailing and just shouting to our neighbors to offer some support. It is one thing to make a common sense decision; it is another to make it the law of the land. Rest assured that powerful forces are already at work with a slew of lobbyists and millions of dollars to make sure this never happens. Had the NTSB done this say fifteen years ago maybe we would have a fighting chance, but the use of cell phones by drivers has become so commonplace that I am afraid it has become a terrifying part of the landscape. And that landscape is very dangerous.

Mike Collins

December 15, 2011