Dumb by DEFAULT

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.