Now, as to the scum-sucking driver and that poor little dog:
You probably don't want to get me started on drivers and cell phones. (But I'm afraid you just did.)
I know from my own early and very short experiments at just TALKING on one for a minute that it's one of the worst things you can do while driving. This was years ago, and all it took to get me to stop was just being aware of the total "amnesia" I recognized upon ending the call - and I'm a serious, better than average driver; I love driving and I love doing it well.
A phone conversation triggers a completely, utterly different kind of concentration and brain activity than a conversation with the person sitting next to you, and it shouldn't require doctors, psychologists, and lawmakers more than about five minutes to recognize that and blow the whistle on it. Well, they do, but it's the blowing the whistle part that's hard. But I'll go them one better in proposing that using an earpiece or other hands-free device doesn't completely alleviate the problem. The CALL is the thing, and even in the best of us it takes our concentration to a different place.
And TEXTING? I can't even fathom it. (I can't competently text in the best of conditions. If you put me on the road doing it, just shut down the whole town for everyone's safety.)
I completely agree with BK's prescription, but here's what mine was in having previously thought about it: First offense, $1,000 fine. Second offense, $2,500 fine and 30-day license suspension. Third offense: $10,000 and welcome to a year without driving. I hadn't even considered jail time, but of course we could mix and match and come up with an even better combo platter. Some cities and states are cracking down on this, and I don't know if the laws have better teeth than they used to, but you'd probably need a whole additional squadron of police out there to have any hope of truly enforcing it. The practice is rampant.
Best VIBES to that poor doggie and owner. I wonder if a single neighborhood has the power, or could lobby for it, to have signs posted at every entrance to said neighborhood warning drivers that they'd best not even try it here...
