TEXT YOUR SUGGESTIONS TO...

Oh, what the heck. Post 'em in the comments section.

(Thanks to MOTW)

Comments

[Meanie the Blue]

If you rigged the phones so that THIS popped up on their screens, I think the problem would take care of itself in no time.

[The Dread Pirate Chris]

Patti (never met her, not related) was 3 or 4 cars behind me on November 2. I say we bring back Drawing and Quartering. Also, we don't need more legislation - we already have a law that says you keep both hands on the wheel while you are driving. Lets just enforce that.

-Sent via my Blackberry

[oneblankspace]

I suggest a bumper sticker:

PLEASE DO NOT USE THE HANDS FREE
OPTION ON YOUR STEERING WHEEL

[spicesea]

Drive Only! Don't be a twitterbug!

[NotSherly]

*Snork @ Obs*
What if we combine the comments of MtB and DPC (MtBDPC) and create steering wheels that play 'Lola' or 'Mandy' loudly, whenever there are less than two hands on it.

[Allen at Division]

Tase 'em, bro!

[Siouxie]

Waterboarding.

[cowhand214]

If you're caught, you have to perform a week of community service which will require you to travel through airport security up to five times a day.

[bonmot]

Make 'em overnight in a sleeping bag full of badgers.

[Braniff]

Make em cln up litr on the side of the hway (sory. I'm textng whle drivng)

[Chris S.]

I think this tends to drive the point home.

(Yes, I have that on my car. No, nobody has vandalized it yet. Yes, I have gotten comments from people that like it. Including a Sheriff's Deputy.)

[Siouxie]

I like that one Chris S!

How about we squirrelize 'em.

[Not My Usual Alias]

At a soccer tournament last Memorial Day with a kajillion kids running around, about 2/3 of the drivers were on cell phones, including a pretty good percentage of people who were texting.

Balls flying around... kids running into traffic... younger siblings breaking away from parents... it was pretty much the worst case scenario for inattentive driving.

My suggestion to the organizers is to use one of the side streets as a "holding pen" for drivers who cannot get off their phones. Kids, traffic and phones do not mix well.

[Betsy]

Sentence them to undergo one or more surgical procedures performed by Dr. Berry Black, the Texting Surgeon. His anesthetist will out in the hallway, near a window, trying to get a signal.

Repeat offenders get a vasectomy or a facelift, depending on gender.

[Account Deleted]

It's against the law here, in SoCal, but you wouldn't know it by the amount of people who are on the phone -
The people that are the worst offenders are the people who should NOT, IN ANY WAY, be distracted - and those are the youngest drivers.
Today, on my way to work, there were 2 accidents on my windy, hilly, canyon commute; the people standing outside their cars ? Teenagers - on the phone ! *sigh*

[Punkin]

I agree. NO texting. At least I only need ONE hand to hold my beer can cofee when I drive.

[desoto]

I keep telling people, it not "hand free" that makes it safer, because your brain is still involved in something other than seeng and processing all the information necessary for driving.100% concetration on driving is needed.

[gjd]

Every person who drives and talks/texts/whatever thinks that THEY are okay. THEY can pay attention to both. It's those OTHER people.

Newsflash...you're not that important that the phone call can't wait.

[gjd]

Dude. I got the spirograph thingy.

[Tash]

I think Slence of the Lambs had a pretty good device that could be modified.... after I pull out of the parking lot I'll post the link.

[Steve]

Raise the driving age to 40?
My daughter got a ticket last year for driving 62 in a 55 zone. That same day, I saw three state patrol officers in the same area driving over 70 without emergency lights on. Two of these were on cell phones.
Hypocrisy is a poor teaching tool.
I know this isn't funny but it irritates me.

[Account Deleted]

Geezer alert:
It KILLS me to admit this, but I find that I need to concentrate more on my driving. I had one accident in my whole life at age 19, and never had a ticket until last year and I've been driving since I was 16 in 1972. Things I used to take for granted, like peripheral vision, and sensing when a car is too close, seems to have diminished somewhat. Wearing glasses while driving is a must now, particularly at night. I think I'm going to be one of those old ladies who stop driving early, and let the old man drive, while yelling at him to watch what he's doing. There will be joy and happiness for Mr. Telecom in his golden years !

[Nate]

But...But...I need to text when I'm driving! How else am I going to complain to my friend about the bad driver in front of me?

[Guin]

I can't even talk on my phone if I'm walking down the sidewalk; I'll veer off course and end up falling into a trash can. As my friend says when her husband calls her while driving: "I'm hanging up; I don't want to hear the accident."

NO PHONES IN CARS.

[Tash]

Telecom, welcome to the geezer bus, if you can find it. I'll send you a Googlemap text.

[Steve Martin]

Though I proposed the death penalty for parking violations to solve the world's population problem, we could include it for texting while driving.

Kill two birds with one law.

Contact your representatives today!!!

[nursecindy]

People should also not attempt to operate a shopping cart while on the cell phone. I (yes, me) was at the grocery store the other day and was on the cell phone to my daughter. It occurred to me that for about 10 mins I had done nothing but turn in a right hand circle around the same aisles. I hold the phone up to my left ear. If I'm that bad with a grocery cart I'm not about to text and drive.

[Steve Martin]

And the death penalty for shopping cart violations!!!

[Siouxie]

Oh look..Steve Martin. Claire's brother??

[nursecindy]

I really like Steve Martin. In fact I stole one of his jokes and posted it on this very blog the other day.

[azred]

Since I can't text or cell phone while riding a motorcycle, but I can splat real nice when inattentive drivers hit me on the road - I just ride on the sidewalk. Problem solved.

[js]

... and then Steve Martin's career took a dangerous downturn..

[eilbeback]

I'm sick to death of seeing mothers and fathers with small children on the phone while just walking, waiting in line somewhere, whatEVER! Doesn't anyone pay attention to their precious babies anymore? And don't get me started on those prima donnas on the phone in the grocery check-out line...
*puts thumb out to flag down geezer bus*

[KLB]

Twice someone has crossed the center line coming straight at me because they were either texting or dialing a cell phone. It was only because *I* was paying attention and made a quick defensive maneuver that all of us are still alive.

We need to have both hands on the wheel, if at all possible. There are too many cars on the road these days with drivers who only have a quarter of a brain functioning inside.

[Alex]

I think anyone who texts while driving should be subject to have their messages -- and replies -- read aloud over everyone's car stereo within a 1-mile radius.

And I know just the guy to do the voice.

That should take care of things.

[blondie]

all this crap about texting while driving...yeah ok it takes away from the task at hand. but so does changing the radio station, putting a cd in the cd player and eating a hamburger from the drive thru. cell phones are just the next target. how many of the geezers on here have eaten a mcdonalds hamburger while driving?? ....hey wait....shouldn't you all be concentrating on the road?? yeah...nuff said

[djtonyb]

Unfortunately, my job encourages it... If I receive a message via their Crackberry and do not acknowledge it withing 10 minutes, they call the cellphone they provided me with. I have called them out on this several times... "I was driving on 95, morons!". They still don't get it.

[Bernard Scooper]

I was talking on the cell when I walked into a place and held up two fingers to order a double espresso, only to find I was in a dry cleaning store where no one spoke English and holding up two fingers meant I was... uh... seeking to hire companionship. I will never walk and talk OR hold up two fingers again.