Talking & driving

I remember back in school, I would be stuck in the classroom listening to the teacher yak on and on about some shit that I knew would have no useful application in the real world...

Most oftentimes, I would be staring out the window or doodling some pictures (or perhaps even drawing devil horns or boners on the historical figures in the school textbooks *LOL*). And...oftentimes, this would annoy the teacher. Apparently his idea of "listening" would be keeping my eyes on the board, on him or in his general direction, and sometimes it bugged him to the point of stopping in the middle of the lecture. I'd reply that I WAS paying attention...I'd explain that just because my eyes and hands were doing other things, that doesn't mean my ears & brain weren't working. Yeah...that answer didn't really help *lol*. But I stuck to my guns. Cause it's not like I WAS goofing off (not THAT time anyway) I really WAS listening. And so he'd quiz me about what he just said. About 75% of the time, I got it right. His panties would still get in a knot over it...(and I'd still get in trouble). Perhaps it was a matter of "principle" for him (even THEN I knew that THOSE kinds of battles usually aren't worth putting up a fight for).

So I can't understand HOW talking on the phone while driving can be so dangerous to do. In fact, the spike in accidents have proven it to be SUCH a danger, it's now illegal in my state to drive while talking (or, perhaps I should say, it's illegal to be CAUGHT driving while talking. Because, as I look around me on the road, this new law clearly isn't making people put their phones down. The wife of my state's Governor was caught red-handed just a few months ago! I've even seen LOTS of POLICE talking on THEIR cell phones while driving ON PATROL, ferchristsakes! My mother-in-law just got a citation for talking while driving just this Thursday! Gee, officer. Hypocritical much?). Staring at the phone screen/keypad when your eyes SHOULD be focused on maneuvering your vehicle, YES, THAT IS a dumbshit move...(or TEXT MESSAGING when you should have your eyes on the road...that's dumbshit raised to the Nth degree). However, the rest of the time is spent driving with the phone in one hand, "yakking off" *lol*. Yet so often people who do that pose a danger to themselves and others on the road. Recent statistics are showing that even "HANDS-FREE" devices do little to no good.

...Uh...WHY? Your mouth may be occupied, but your other faculties, the ones needed for driving...eyes, brain, etc., should OTHERWISE be free. How does TALKING affect one's vision, or inhibit one from seeing what's right the f*ck in front of them?(I once got rear ended on the freeway by some bitch talking on her cell phone). How does TALKING on a PHONE impair the mental capacity to negotiate your way from A to B? And what's more: How can talking on a PHONE be DANGEROUS as opposed to talking to a PASSENGER, when it's essentially the same activity??? It's weird to see how a driver can change once they begin talking on the phone. What was once a car, has now become a phone booth on wheels...Or a freaking LOUNGE even! When I see someone driving while talking, most oftentimes I also:
-See them staring off into the sky
-I see them staring at the dash panel like it were a TV...(o_O)???
-I see them picking at their face holes in the mirror
...nose...mouth...ears...
-I see the especially vain ones spend more time WATCHING THEMSELVES TALK in the mirror than watching the road...Yeesh! *rolls eyes*
-I see them hunched over, fiddling with the buttons on the stereo a LITTLE TOO LONG
-I see them taking in the view AROUND them instead of what's IN FRONT of them...
-I see them decide that there's no better time or place to scavenge for a pen and paper to write a number or some other stupid shit down(instead of pulling over 1st)
-I see them toying around with the buttons on their PHONE when they should be focusing on the road AHEAD of them...

WHY does that happen? What IS IT about driving with a phone that disconnects you from your other senses and immediate surroundings? Could their skulls be soaking up their cell phone's harmful EM radiation which (I guess) retards the most basic human intelligence/sense of judgement? Or is that person's brain running on SUCH a low gear that something as simple as talking on the phone SHORT CIRCUITS all other faculties? The old "walking while chewing gum" joke comes to mind...Although I know this issue isn't so simple. Driving involves having to pay attention to a multitude of things at once...which, now that I think about it, is ALL THE MORE REASON to pay some effing attention to what you're doing!

Man, leave it to a few dumbasses to ruin things for the rest of us...AND...have it get SO BAD, the GOVERNMENT feels the need meddle in it! The only ones the Government keeps safe are their own, and the only ones they help are THEMSELVES...as in HELP THEMSELVES TO YOUR hard-earned $$$...Don't get me started on THAT...