Comments on: Obama Bans Texting While Driving for Guv Workers — And There’s More http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/10/01/obama-bans-texting-while-driving-for-guv-workers-and-theres-more/ Your daily source for national transportation policy news and analysis. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David R http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/10/01/obama-bans-texting-while-driving-for-guv-workers-and-theres-more/comment-page-1/#comment-84491 David R Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:29:30 +0000 http://dc.streetsblog.org/?p=33411#comment-84491 I appreciate the sentiment, but am struck by the specificity of the regs. We should also ban things like: eating with chopsticks while driving doing origami while driving decorating a birthday cake while driving putting in eye-drops while driving practicing guitar, piano, or wind instruments while driving As a person who's not into texting, it strikes me that hopefully in a short period of time there will be a new better way of IM communicating (perhaps send an instant voice or video message, or at least regular handwriting on a touch screen (I have big farm-boy hands and just can't get the 2-thumbed approach to work). Anti-texting regulations will be outdated as quickly as anti-walkman rules would have been. Instead of telling people what NOT to do, how about making a rule that drivers & rail operators need to keep their hands on the wheel, their eyes on the road, and their attention on their task. I appreciate the sentiment, but am struck by the specificity of the regs.

We should also ban things like:
eating with chopsticks while driving
doing origami while driving
decorating a birthday cake while driving
putting in eye-drops while driving
practicing guitar, piano, or wind instruments while driving

As a person who’s not into texting, it strikes me that hopefully in a short period of time there will be a new better way of IM communicating (perhaps send an instant voice or video message, or at least regular handwriting on a touch screen (I have big farm-boy hands and just can’t get the 2-thumbed approach to work). Anti-texting regulations will be outdated as quickly as anti-walkman rules would have been.

Instead of telling people what NOT to do, how about making a rule that drivers & rail operators need to keep their hands on the wheel, their eyes on the road, and their attention on their task.

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