ARE CELL PHONES THE ONLY DRIVING DISTRACTION?

ARE CELL PHONES THE ONLY DRIVING DISTRACTION?

Misuse of the cell phone has become a regular issue for car drivers. Since the advent of the handheld phone, we have now had to enact distracted driving laws to keep morons from holding their phone in their hands and talking while driving. It makes nothing but sense, but there is another villain in the distracted driving arena that we are not addressing.

Over the years, a large number of accidents are caused by people doing other things than paying attention to their driving. I have witnessed people not only talking but texting while trying to steer their car. I have seen women applying lipstick, combing their hair and putting on makeup. I have also seen men combing their hair, shaving with an electric razor and once I watched a guy brushing his teeth at a stop light. I always wondered if he swallowed his spit or spewed it out of the window. I will never know. 

Any parent who is transporting young kids is constantly distracted by child noises, verbal and physical altercations among the kids, and throwing objects that may hit or at least distract mom or dad, the driver. Perhaps young kids should be relegated to the rear trunk or the kind of cage used to transport dogs to prevent them from negatively influencing the driver. Kind of a paddy wagon for kids! I might work on that idea!

The most distracted driving experience I ever encountered occurred when we lived in Istanbul. Often, we would ride on a dolmus, which is small bus holding about ten to fifteen passengers. I remember holding my breath and saying a few silent prayers when I watched our driver steer the bus, shift gears, hold his phone to his ear, make change for boarding customers and passing the money back over his shoulder while taking a big drag on his cigarette! When things got dull, he would then fiddle with changing the radio station playing on the bus! I will have to research if Turkey has now instituted distracted driving laws to reduce the stress on passengers

However, internal distractions are not the only culprit in causing a driver to be distracted. Many businesses have bill boards or signs along roads and highways designed to attract the driver’s attention. Are they not as much of a distraction? During any election period, campaign signs decorate every road - main or residential. I have been trying to read one election sign that shows ( I think as I am still trying to slow down enough to read it) the person’s name as Hallelujah! I am not sure yet, if that is a candidate’s name or an exclamation that we are holding another election! I just know that it distracts me every time I see it. How intelligent is it to have candidates and their supporters clustered at a high traffic intersection waving their arms and signs at motorists to garner support?

The actual provincial government which passed the distracted driving laws is constantly posting dozens of signs. While signs indicating speed limits or destination signs are necessary, there are a host of others. Some signs reflect my travelling speed back at me or overhead signs with traffic information cause me to look upward instead of at the road I am travelling along. Construction zone signs are a regular interference when driving, not to mention the millions of orange traffic cones scattered along sharp drop offs or broken pavement. The only sign I appreciate is the one that informs me that traffic fines will double or triple if I exceed the speed limit!

So, I think that the cell phone may be getting a bum rap as the primary cause of distracted driving. I have seen dozens of other culprits including the people who made the laws!