Funny:
A woman looks up from her crossword puzzle and asks her husband, "How would you spell 'narcissistic'?". Without batting an eyelash, he responds, "W-R-O-N-G".
The theme of the day from
is "Wrong".Inspiration: This week's theme was sent by Jaymz. He suggested, "...it could be a photo that expresses a political idea that you oppose, something you consider an injustice, a point of view that you do not share, something with which you are uncomfortable, or simply shows something that you believe to be, wrong."
There are so many things in this world that I feel are wrong: Injustices, unfairness, rudenesss, immoral behavior, illegal drugs, abuse, business and government corruption, etc, ...
I chose this picture, since it's about one of my pet peeves:
I definitely feel it is wrong to talk on a cell phone while driving.
I have nothing against cell phones. I used to have one myself, while I was working days and going to college at night, so my son could always get a hold of me. It came in handy when the car broke down, or if I was stuck in traffic, and going to be late.
What pisses me off is when people drive iratically while they're chatting away on the phone. I don't think they are doing it intentionally. I believe that they are just not aware of how they are driving, since more of their attention is directed toward the phone conversation than on driving.
A couple of months ago, I was was riding with a friend, when she got a call from her boyfriend. I reminded it that it was against the law in NY and just not a good idea in general. She just brushed it off with an "oh, well" attitude. A few minutes later, when I pointed out that she had missed her turn, she got off the phone, so she could turn around. However, she still didn't grab the concept that phone conversation had distracted her from what she was doing.
Even though it is against the law to talk on a hand-held cell phone while driving in NY state, I see it happen all the time. A few weeks ago, on my way to work, I caught up with a vehicle that was going 15 miles under the posted speed limit of 55. I was hesitant to pass, because the car was weaving from one side of the lane to the other. You would imagine that this driver was wither just learning to drive, or too old to drive. But no, it was a female with a cell phone in her hand. Wait, this gets better: As we went around a curve, we could see there was a radar trap ahead. So, she throws her phone down on the floor! Once we were well past the police vehicle, she's slowing way down, and bending over to get the phone off the passenger side floor. I could just imagine her yelling, "hold on, I can't reach the phone!" What an idiot! Fortunately, she turned shortly after that, so I'll never know if she ever reached her phone or caused an accident.
Speaking of accidents, it's my gut feeling that the other driver involved in my accident last year was on a cell phone at the time of the collission. Of course, I have no proof of that and I have no recollection of the accident, so I'm not accusing anyone of anything. It's just a feeling I have in my gut that he was distracted by a cell phone and that's why he didn't see me, or even slam on his brakes. Maybe I just have this feeling because the ambulance crew said the other driver had been the one to call in the accident on his cell phone. He obviously was distracted by something, though. How many times has someone pulled out in front of you, and you slam on the brakes to avoid an accident? For me, it's been countless times, and I've also come to complete dead stops for bicyclists, deer, dogs, etc... I feel like I've just released some pent up frustration. Whew.......
I did some research on driving with a cell phone, and Consumer Reports indicated that
when a phone was used while driving, the risk of a collision was between 3 and 6.5 times higher than when a phone was not used.
"People talking on any phone tend to act like sluggish drivers," Strayer told us. "They're slow to react, particularly to unexpected events. It takes them longer to hit the brakes. They're more likely to miss signals and more likely to have accidents." Strayer is clear on the subject of the type of phone used. "We've noted no safety advantage for using a hands-free vs. a handheld phone. It's conversation that drives this effect. When you're talking, you're impaired." He adds that merely listening isn't an issue. "We haven't noted any attention interference at all for someone listening to the radio or a book on tape."
All the bans in the U.S. and the vast majority of the legislation target only handheld cell phones, allowing people to use hands-free phones while driving. Accumulating evidence, though, suggests that simply talking on a telephone--not just dialing or holding a receiver--can seriously impair a driver and should be restricted to people who are not actually driving.
Please help by signing this petition. It takes 30 seconds and will really help.
Thanks for reading!
Ann Marie
