An agency of the U.S. Government Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving . .
To no one’s surprise, our best interest were not at the heart of the High Way Traffic and Safety Administrations decision to withhold data that implied talking on cell phones, even hands free devices, while driving, is killing us. The NYT reported that the information was withheld so as not to “anger Congress”, and for “larger political considerations.” Maybe that means donations to congress people from the almighty telecoms, maybe it doesn’t. My bet is on the former, though there is no proof the “industry” caused this 6 year delay in publication. But for the Freedom of Information Act we’d have never seen this report. It is nothing but perverse practice that keeps something like this unpublished. Who pays these people anyway? Oh, the same people who pay the National Transportation Safety Board, the people in charge of the Metro Safety in D.C., and the same people who pay the salaries of Congress. Us.
Clearly our government agencies are not here to protect us, they are here to keep themselves employed by whatever means, and with as little hassle as possible. However, it’s not that we didn’t know that talking on a cell phone is dangerous, probably as dangerous as driving drunk, we’d have to been in a coma for the last 6 years not to have known, but what we now know, thanks to the report, and years after billions have been made by the telecoms selling hands free devices, is that hands free is no better. Now that it’s public what are they going to do?
Many people fear government rules about this kind of thing, so where I’d personally go for a law demanding we deactivate all cell phones in automobiles others would complain. I’d settle for people taking responsibility for their own actions. We should hold cell phone users as liable as drunk drivers for the accidents they cause, and the people they kill. So let’s just turn the phones off while driving, because if you kill someone while talking on a cell phone you are as liable for manslaughter, maybe even Murder 2, as the drunk who knowingly gets behind the wheel of the mobile lethal weapon known as the automobile.
Peace
I’ve known for awhile there’s no real advocate for the people. People with government jobs, at least the ones I know at various agencies, are more interested in “having the government job” because it gives them security, they do what they are told.
I agree that knowing it kills people need to take responsibility, but given the number of drunks who get off I doubt it will happen.
.-= jake´s last blog ..Bullpens and Baltimore =-.
My favorite are people with government jobs that are against tax payer funded health care for others. I work at a college, which is pretty much a government job, and you wouldn’t believe how many people here are against the “public option.” Yet they enjoy the very same thing with their job.
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Rubber Meets the Road =-.
I doubt it too.
They don’t care, look at the mess they are making with their obstructionist tactics on healthcare on one side and the watered down mess on the other. Why can’t we just leave the government and form our own country?
Yeah the hands free revolution had to be worth billions to the major telecoms.
From the post office to the health department and congress, people just want to work for the government so they don’t have to do anything.
I hate that bluetooth contraption anyway. lol
Responsible for our own actions? But who would we blame when we screw up?
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Rubber Meets the Road =-.
If everyone took their proper portion of responsibility we’d be sitting pretty. I guess legislating responsibility is impossible due to it being relatively subjective.
And yet, nobody says anything about how focused driving makes us wish we were dead.
.-= Doug´s last blog ..The Reformation of Wolfshausen =-.
You mean that hypnotized thing?
It’s better that we don’t know just how many of our interests are not being looked out for. Too much anxiety accompanies the option of knowing too much.
I hate it when the woman driving next to me almost sideswipes me because she is putting on mascara. This happens at least once a week, and that is no lie.
.-= john´s last blog ..Chew On This =-.
I hate the putting on make-up thing too. It’s common to see that on the beltway when traffic is stopped.
Focused driving–a cause for the millenium
Here I don’t think it’s against the law to talk with a cell in one hand. Drives me crazy; drives me crazy in NY too where it is very much against the law–but I don’t think the consequences are great. Should be an automatic point or two on licenses. Anybody can pull over to take an important call
.-= pia´s last blog ..Bless you(r) heart, Miss Pia, you look divine…. =-.
If the person is held accountable I don’t care. I just am not big on people calling things accidents when everyone knows things like drinking and driving, and talking on phones and driving, are dangerous activities. There should be a different class of punishment for those who reek havoc by these means.
After that big fib about the war in Iraq I can’t say this surprises me.
I’m pretty good about not talking while driving, as long as I put it on vibrate during the drive and can’t see it.
You have a point there jacob.
I’m a notorious texter when I drive, which I know is dangerous, but I was always under the impression that hands-free talking was relatively safe. Apparently not.
I’m kind of surprised that that kind of finding wouldn’t be more widespread. Even if not from an actual report, I would have thought the notion of it’s dangerousness would have been brought up before just from word-of-mouth of friends and relatives of individuals who had been involved in accidents resulting from hands-free phone usage.
.-= mojo shivers´s last blog ..Dark Winters Wear You Down, Up Again To See The Dawn, In Your Worn Sweatshirt, And Your Mother’s Old Skirt, It’s Enough To Turn My Studies Down =-.
I’m surprised you’re a texter mojo.
It doesn’t take a government report to know that talking on a cell phone while driving is dangerous. That’s like the cigarrette companies ignoring the fact that smoking is dangerous. And people talking on phones SHOULD be held responsible. Driving while destracted is never safe.
.-= Angela´s last blog ..Be. Our. Guest. =-.
Unfortunately people don’t seem to be clear on responsibility, if they were we’d be much less apt to be governed in ways we abhor.
At 17 I totaled my Integra because I dropped my cell phone off the seat and tried to pick it up. I hit an Ford f10 that had been converted to a farm truck. I don’t know how I lived, I plowed right into it and had to climb out of the distorted window because the car was flattened like a pancake. The people in the truck were driving without license or registration. The accident was my fault, but because the truck was driven by people who had warrants out on them, for various traffic offenses, my insurance company didn’t have to pay anything. I ended up at the ER full of cuts and bruises. I lost my license for a month and had to go to driving school. I think they should have just taken away my cell phone.
I don’t drive and text, and only on occasion talk and drive.
I know you know this already.
.-= g´s last blog ..Six Feet Under =-.
I do remember, and I’m still surprised, and happy beyond belief, that you are alive to tell of it.
The US government is a capitalistic one. It is hardly surprising that big companies can influence government policy by pumping in some cash. In fact, it would seem that a human life now has a price-tag on it and unfortunately the price is not very high.
I totally agree with your policy on mixing cell-phones and driving: Don’t.
Regards,
-The Village Idiot.
T’is indeed but some restraint is needed to make the government actually beneficial to those who pay taxes to support it’s various agencies.
Thanks for stopping by Idiot.
I’m quite guilty of talking on the cell while driving, and no I’m not saying it’s right.
Of course not many seem to be aware of the 2 second rule when driving which I may be the only person I know of to use. At least that’s how it seems when I drive. I actually make it the 3 second distance rule. Many seem to love cutting in front of me to make quick right hand turns, & each time I wish I was driving a dump truck.
I’m certain action of some sort should be taken,but I’m not sure how the hell you’re going to enforce it. Boom, car wreck, cellphone talker throws phone to the floor & says:” No, I didn’t even know where it was.”
Good in theory, but in the practical world I’m not sure how this could be done air tight, without countless mistrials, and people bending every bit of court time every which way to get around it.
Honestly, I don’t know.
As serious as driving drunk, I don’t if can be compared so easily. But, just like drunk driving some people can hold their liquor better than others. Again, not saying it’s right, but merely an example of how each person is subject to their abilities.
Something tells me there will be a demand on a another cellphone tax as our slap on the wrist.
I’m still on the fence on this one, until I can think more about it.
.-= Bennet´s last blog ..Sounds, Memories =-.
BTW….one of these days…hopefully never…someone is going to make a quick right hand turn in front of me….& I’m going to follow them in, and ask what was so important that they had to risk our lives for.
It’s one of those thoughts in the back of the mind, thankfully never implemented.
.-= Bennet´s last blog ..Sounds, Memories =-.