Two things I read
today upset me. First the DOT has new guidelines for preventing driving while
"distracted." These guidelines are all focused on the elimination of
the use of phones while driving. Moreover, they are also focused on the
prevention of having internet content within the moving vehicle. Second, the
FDA is recalling Children's Tylenol because the dropper is "too difficult
to read." Really? Grown up people can't figure out how much Tylenol to give
their kids?
All this leads me
to my concern. Big Government in its endless quest to make us "safer"
has in fact reset Americans to DUMB by DEFAULT. I am 100% sure that if Automobiles
were invented today....they would be banned as far too dangerous for humans [or
at least Americans.] Think about this. Over 30,000 people are killed in cars
each year. Al Qaeda only wishes they were that good. Alcohol kills another
100,000 a year. And tobacco is killing 300,000 a year. But government is focused
on eliminating productivity by banning phone use in cars. If you want to save
lives....ban tobacco sales.
I am not ashamed
to admit that I text, email, and read messages on my iPhone while driving. From
what I have seen....I am not alone. Here in California on the freeway, over 50%
of the drivers are doing the same thing. Most important, they are doing it very
well. Driving on the freeway in Greater Los Angeles is like being in the
Olympics of Driving. When there is traffic it is heavy and when there is
limited traffic everyone drives 90 or more miles per hour. The traditional
"laws" are nonexistent. The real rules of driving in LA say this: DO
NOT HIT OTHER STUFF. You are expected to drive so as NOT to hit cars, poles,
signs, or people. Everything else is OK. You can change your clothes while
driving, or you can eat your lunch while driving, or you can type on your lap
top while driving. Yes, you can use you mobile phone. I have seen people with
two phones driving with their knees. The one rule you cannot break is NO
ACCIDENTS. An accident will stop traffic and piss off a thousand other drivers.
It will prove you are not really ready for LA. Go back to Omaha and drive to work.
Humans have evolved.
From using that first stick to beat the crap out of a bear, to using a mobile
phone while driving, we have learned to adapt. Ask any 11 year old who can play
video games while talking to his mom on the phone. Humans are multi-taskers. Back
in 1880 it was widely believed that humans might explode if they travel faster
than 50 miles per hour. These same people believed that trains running on
tracks next to farms, made the cows give "bad milk.". Turns out
humans can learn to do stuff and over time do it well. Like fly to the
moon....also not safe.
Back to phones in
cars. They have made our lives better. They work great. All of us are learning
to use them better every day. A few, a stupid few, make bad mistakes. Like
learning to drive home drunk from a bar, [another acquired skill] humans can
learn to drive and eat, or find that CD under the seat, or beat their kids in
the back seat, or sell that account using their phone while driving. We are
smarter and better than government can imagine. Yes, some make mistakes but
overall 95% of us do this well. Stand up and voice your concern for the ongoing
effort to make Americans DUMB by DEFAULT. And, be very careful with those
Tylenol droppers....I hear they are really complex.
