Daily Archives: October 9, 2010

In another attempt to create a “nanny state” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood want studies done to see if cell phones, entertainment systems and navigation systems are too distracting and should be outlawed from American vehicles.

LaHood, whose campaign against texting and making calls while driving has led to restrictions in 30 states, says his concerns extend to vehicle information and entertainment systems such as Ford Motor Co.’s Sync and General Motors Co.’s OnStar.

These are the types of issues that the Obama administration feels are pressing and need to be addressed today in America.

This is a big problem for democrats and President Obama. Public perception is everything in politics, and when the public sees you as “less concerned” with the economy and more concerned with stripping away the rights of Americans, your political future is doomed.

Indeed there are people that cannot walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. But should the masses be punished for the lack of coordination of a few?

I traverse the freeways of Los Angeles every day and without exception, not a day goes by where I don’t pass a few people that seem to forget that they are not sitting in their easy chairs talking on their cell phones, they are in fact driving down the freeway at 38 miles an hour talking on their phones and damn near causing accidents.

It seems to me that the prudent thing to do would create laws whereas law enforcement can use their own judgement to determine whether or not a person that is talking on their phone while driving is indeed a danger to those around them and cite them accordingly.

Creating “nanny state” laws for an entire nation is not the solution here. Incredibly enough, there are many people that can talk on their phones and drive a car at the same time.

For many, this is the way they make their money. Without their cell phones, they cannot survive in the current business climate, which has been worsened by a president and an administration that seems clueless as to how to run an economy.

LaHood, 64, said even hands-free phone conversations are a “cognitive distraction.” Calling for a ban on hands-free communications is a possible outcome of research under way at the Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into all driver distractions, Olivia Alair, a department spokeswoman, said.

At what point are we going to be told that we cannot talk to our passengers riding in our cars? When will it end? JD