Cell Phones in Cars Are the Least of Our Worries

By GREGORY J. RUMMO
THE HERALD NEWS, MAY 7, 2000
 

THERE'S A DEBATE raging in New Jersey - and probably in the other 49 states too - about cell phones and whether they should be banned from use while driving a motor vehicle.

Ban cell phone use from automobiles? Get serious. If cell phones are banned, that will just be the beginning.

I just happen to be composing the opening to this opinion piece on my laptop while seated at a red light on Route 23 on my way home from work.

In my opinion…

Oh, excuse me for a minute. The light just changed and my cell phone rang at the same time.

"Hello. Yes, this is Greg Rummo. Herald News? Yes, yes I am working on it now. No, I just wrote the opening to the piece on whether cell phones should be banned in cars. Where am I now? Driving home from work. What do you mean 'Are you nuts?' I do this all the time. Okay, bye."

Editors… Always pressuring me to get a column done. Good thing I can use a laptop while driving. You have no idea how much time this has saved me over the last few years.

You think that's funny?

You wouldn't believe what I have seen people do while driving. And I am not sure which was more amazing - what they were doing, or how they managed to keep the car on the road while engaged in activities normally reserved for the bathroom or the kitchen.

Take for instance the woman I saw applying mascara with one eye on the road and the other focused in the mirror attached to her sun visor while driving 65 mph on the Garden State Parkway one morning during rush hour. She came within a hair of hitting the car in front of her as traffic slowed into the Bergen toll. The only thing that kept her from having an accident was that she dropped the cap of her mascara, distracting her back to the annoying inconvenience of operating a motor vehicle while applying make-up.

Eating and drinking in a car is also right up there with activities having to do with personal hygiene. I have seen people indulging in everything from doughnuts to hero sandwiches while trying to maneuver a car through traffic using their knees to turn the steering wheel. And usually, there is a scalding cup of coffee nearby to wash it all down.

What a recipe for disaster.

And lest you music buffs out there feel short-changed by all of my extra vehicular observations, let me include you here. Do you really think it's safe when you drive your rolling rap machine with its supercharged bass-thumping stereo system rivaling the engine for horsepower down the highway?

If you've ever seen one of these guys behind the wheel, you know what I'm talking about. First, you hear the bass line about 30 seconds before the car ever appears on the horizon. By the time you can see the driver - usually just a head, bobbing and weaving back and forth - the decibel level is comparable to that on an aircraft carrier deck during active maneuvers.

Of course there are lots of unsafe activities that go on in motor vehicles every day in this state. And many of these unsafe activities are indirectly encouraged by the automobile manufacturers themselves, as evidenced by such things as great-sounding stereo systems and cup holders. Driving has become something other than safely operating the accelerator, the brake pedal and the steering wheel, predominately because automobiles have become extensions of our living rooms and our offices.

To single out cell phone users as lawbreakers, while looking the other way at equally dangerous activities that go on in automobiles, is unfair and intellectually dishonest. Motorists talking on cell phones while operating a motor vehicle need to exercise caution and a little common sense by using the "hands free" feature that is available on most cell phones. And besides, it's inconvenient to balance a cup of that great McDonald's coffee while eating a bacon, egg and cheese croissant when you have that cell phone cradled between your ear and shoulder. m

The Herald News, Sunday May 7, 2000.  

This also appeared in the Thursday, May 11 Independent News, the Friday May 19 Daily Record and the Sunday, May 21 Suburban Trends.

E-mail the author at GregoryJRummo@aol.com