197 Days to Go

     When I was taking driver's education in high school, my teacher said the only thing that should be on the steering wheel should be my hands. He made it clear that both hands needed to be on the wheel. He added that cars in Germany did not have cup holders because driving was a full time job. Holding a cup of hot coffee while steering a car traveling a hundred miles an hour was not a way to grow old. A lot can happen at high speeds.
      Cars changing lanes, stopping or slowing down occurs at all speeds. I would guess my driver ed. teacher has retired but he would probably say that using a cell phone or other handheld device while driving is a death wish. It's too bad that more new drivers did not have a teacher like mine.
     I get crazy when I see someone driving while doing their nails, sipping from a cup and talking on their electronic device. What's even worse than that is when I see a woman doing her nails, then her eyes, brushing her hair, sipping from a cup, yelling at her kids and texting. She is not doing everything at once but does all everything in the span of several minutes. Somewhere in there, she was driving me crazy and oh, also driving her SUV.
     So why am I saying this? Because as I have gotten older, drivers and their habits have gotten worse. I wonder when someone is going to use some common sense and just say no to any kind of electronic device which requires the driver to take his or her hands off the steering wheel. And the hands free electronic anything ban is going to be put into law and that law is going to stand up in every courtroom in every state.
     Until real laws are passed and the police enforce those laws, drivers are going to continue to drive as though they have a death wish and many of them will have their wish come true.


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