Cell phones on the road........

I was driving around town running some errands yesterday. I noticed a car in front of me that was driven by an erratic driver. It seemed like she was weaving around, stopping prematurely at stoplights, not moving when the car in front of her moved, etc. I ended up moving into the other lane and happened to stop next to her at a stoplight.

I looked over to see a girl around 17-18 years of age. But her relatively new driving skills were not the reason for her erratic driving. In the time we sat at a stoplight, she made two phone calls and had started to send a text message. Worse yet, she continued to send text messages as we drove down the street, nearly running into a car as she did it. I'd heard that kids drive while sending text messages, but to see it in action was pretty frightening. She was an accident waiting to happen.

For what it's worth, I'm in favor of a complete ban on cell phone use of any kind while driving. While it's convinient to make calls while on the move, I don't think it's too much to ask people to wait until they get somewhere or to stop their car to make a phone call. I think the risks are pretty significant. It's already been banned in some states, so this is not a new idea. The thought of being run over by a kid sending a text message or an adult chatting about something that could wait until later just doesn't appeal to me. I'm sure people would complain, but they'd get over it.