Much of my bicycle travel is by bicycle routes snaking through the city's quiet residential neighbourhoods. When I see a driver pulling out in into traffic in front of me, oblivious to my presence and causing me to apply my brakes violently, I can be sure that the driver is on his cell phone. This occurs despite the standing ban against cell phone use while driving in this province, unless the driver has a hands free unit.
By coincidence, as I blathered on today about my peeve against distracted drivers endangering cyclists, I found validation. Finally some solid numbers on the effects of using a cell phone and texting while driving. It seems that 16,000 people died as a result of cell phone or texting while driving in the US from 2001-2007.
As cell phone use and texting volume continue to rise, I hope that police take a more active stance in ticketing law breaking drivers. Currently only 30 states have legislation banning these distractions. In Canada, seven of 10 provinces have or will soon be enacting cell phone bans: BC, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, and Nova Scotia.
Well, it's about time.
i agree. (altho it is embarrassing that human beings require laws to motivate them to behave reasonable.) :(
ReplyDeletei googled obsessive vacation research and your blog showed up. I have spent at least a week or more of my life researching the next vacation... since you do the same, and you have children, perhaps you would share the summary of your research..
ReplyDelete"Anonymous": The summary of my research? I always wonder why I spend so much time researching the vacation when I'm doing the research, but the payoff of my family's smiles make it always seem worth it. We pack more into our vacations and we pay less money. I suppose if you paid me minimum wage per hour for my research then the opportunity cost is too great for me to do my own research, but I enjoy the hunt for a bargain.
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