No Cell Phones in the Car, Not Even Hands-Free

2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Yeaaaah, National Safety Council !

That organization is recommending that top U.S. legislators pass a nationwide law to ban the use of any and ALL cell phones and accessories while driving.

As the popular blog, Wired, wrote in covering this news:

"If you're a huge talking and driving multi-tasker and think there's no way a single non-profit will take your Bluetooth-enabled earpiece from your cold dead ear, think again. The NSC was one of the driving organizations behind the spread of tough (and mostly successful) laws against drinking and driving."

Hands-Free Phones are Just as Bad

Studies by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, and the University of Utah, indicate that hands-free gadgets cause as much of a distraction for drivers as using a cell phone with your hands for calls or texting.

Bluetooth devices lull drivers into a false sense of security, the NSC says, and actually make people call more than if they were just calling one-handed.

Man, am I a FAN of this development!! And you may be surprised to learn that I am myself often an offender of using  a cellphone - a Blackberry, to boot! - while driving.

CrackBerries are Crazy on the Road... I Should Know!

For years, I used a regular cell to make calls and receive calls on the road, 90% regarding the pick-up and destinations of my three kids with my ex-husband and new husband and his ex and grandparents...! I felt justified there, I admit...

But then I got a Blackberry, about six months back, and to my horror - I have on occasion texted and checked email (and once even sent an email!!) while driving. OK, I was on a deserted road, or more often, sitting at a red light, but STILL! What a dumb-ass thing to do! (And in front of my kids, no less!!) How ironic that I am such a big advocate of snow tires for driving in our tough winters, eh?

So, if new legislation is going to force idiots like me to put down the communication devices and pay attention to the two-ton hunks of metal driving at high speeds around me, and using both hands all the time on the wheel...

well, then, slap a big fine on me, I say. Heck, throw me in jail, if that's what it's going to take to keep me, my kids, and everyone else around me safe and alive.