Cell Phones Replace Beer...

...when driving. Not too long ago it was common, in Wisconsin, to see drivers drinking from a brown long neck bottle or a silver can of suds. Now, instead, one in three have cell phones glued to their heads.

Unfortunately, our .08 BAC limit and fewer drinking drivers has NOT improved the quality of life on the road. In fact, there are more idiot, self centered, unsafe drivers than in the past, when drinking and driving were almost acceptable. The average quality of drivers seems worse than ever.

Were you driving through Madison today? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Christo_pull_hair.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

It's not called MAD town for nothing.

Dude! Get outa my head.

Driving home and entering my neighborhood through the main drag [shops, restaurants, grocery stores (25 mph slow winding black-top) joggers, cyclists, walkers] I come across them...Drivers navigating as if they can only see 30 feet in front of themselves. Twitch, twitch, twitch. No anticipation. I know they aren't drunk. They got that cute cell phone head tilt going on...one hand on steering wheel.

I want to stop them, take their phone and ticket them.

JayFlash.
Generally your contention that cell phones (or anything) can replace beer is wrong.
NOTHING could ever replace beer!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif

I'm not joking, but I and most of my friends can drive while drunk better than way too many "sober" daytime idiots do.

Never had a DUI and am extremely GD careful even after only a couple brewskis and hardly ever drink and drive but it did occur when younger. I'm not excusing or condoning D & D but it is absolutely factual that there are better "drunk" drivers than some sober ones.

Ever wonder why road rage was seldom heard of until after it was no longer acceptable to drink and drive but cell phones, instead, became all the rage.

Actually, I agree with you. The .08 BAC level is a farce. it isn't the people at that kind of level that are a threat, it's MUCH higher. A bunch of emotional, uninformed, impulsive, prejudiced activist groups got those changes made. I don't want to say anything further because it might be construed as political and after the global warming thread a couple months ago, I'm probably under a microscope.
I was making an observation about beer and not about driving.

In NY, it's illegal to drive and use a cell phone w/o a hands-free device (headset or speakerphone). I'm not convinced that makes a difference and no one obeys the law anyway.

But you see morons doing all sorts of assinine stuff while driving. A short list of stuff I've seen at an average speed of 75 or more:
- cell phone and reading a paperback book tucked in the steering wheel while weaving through traffic (never saw him look up).
- cell phone and roadmap fully opened and blocking the entire windshield.
- puting on makeup, while drinking coffee, and smoking a cigarette (didn't see hands on the wheel and she never once took her eyes off the mirror).
- the old put on the pantyhose while trying not to spill the coffee trick (she was large enough it must have been a struggle).
- argue with the wife (passenger seat) and smack the kids (backseat) (Never looked forward. Hmm, just a wee touch of road rage?).
- AND THE WINNER IS... cell phone, coffee (open cup -- no lid), cigarette, electric razor, and newspaper opened fully on the steering wheel (WSJ, perhaps -- it was a Lexus).

Two questions --

Why don't these morons have a bumper sticker that says, "My mechanic said it was a loose nut behind the wheel" or something like it?

Where is Charles Darwin when we need him? These are folks who DON'T need to wear seatbelts. Let 'em fly when they crash.

The best one I saw was the one holding a Palm PDA and the little stylus (that requires two hands, even for those of us who know our way around the dang things), AND a cellphone. While driving.

These tasks, when 'offline', already require two hands absolute minimum (Palm in left, stylus/phone in right), possibly three for those with a little less manual dexterity. How is this guy steering?

I'm not making this up. I was his passenger, and the Powers that Be have decided not to call me home so soon. Naturally, you can bet I'll never sit in his car again.