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Better yet, just use a detonator to explode the phone's lithium battery if you hit "send" while moving more than 5 mph. But to make it stick, you'd probably have to add a provision to the law to suspend the driver's license on the third detonation. No, wait, revoke their Facebook accounts, that would be much more effective.

I jest, of course, but I remember a wonderful point made by the inestimable Walter Williams on one of his guest host appearances on Limbaugh's show. He reinforced a point by saying a lot of things were like airbags on cars, which do nothing to stop collisions. He said the way to stop collisions was to force everyone to pull out the airbag in the steering wheel and replace it with a spear point. That, he said, would stop drivers from taking so many chances.

That may have been the same show, long ago, when he said the best way to stop airline hijackings was to force everyone who boards the plane, crew included, to go through a metal detector. If you find anyone who isn't carrying a gun they must either accept a loaner handgun or they can't get on the plane. No more hijackings.

While his plan may have certain flaws related to training and the high incidence of drooling idiots in this world, there is some merit to the idea. It could work.

Charles L. Cotton wrote: Folks, PLEASE put down the hammer and pick up a slide rule. (Let's see how many of the youngsters know what that is!)

Chas.

Slide rules were the primary computational hardware of NASA, the Neanderthal Aeronautics and Space Administration, and were wooden. Whittled down logs, you might say, and very heavy. You couldn't weigh them on bathroom scales. You had to use C and D scales.

They are banned from modern classrooms because of zero tolerance for profanity. No cursors in classrooms. But that's not the root of the problem, it's just a sine of the times.

flechero wrote:

treadlightly wrote:
I'm not saying punctuality isn't a hallmark of a productive person, but on the other hand every time a manager is hard on someone for showing up late, it's a little vote for more multitasking behind the wheel.

Or maybe just set the alarm 5 minutes earlier?

We're all adults... by the time you are gainfully employed, you know (or should know) how to be on time. Besides, the vast majority of people aren't "working" on their phone. They could show up a few minutes early and text a bit before clocking in, or while waiting for the meeting to start.

Blaming your boss for multitasking while driving to work has nothing to do with the price of tea in China.

Well, the pace of life is sometimes unsympathetic. If I have services down when a conference call is scheduled, you can bet my focus is on what counts and that is on customer facing services. That can throw me late, and I know it sometimes throws others late to my presentations. I always remember the guy walking in late may be a slacker or he may have worked harder to get to my presentation than I did. With the people I work with, it's much more likely to be the latter.

As for me, personally, I'm an IT teleworker. I don't drive to work. I walk about 15 feet from my bedroom to my adjacent office. Why, you might ask, do I have it so easy when you have to contend with people blaming their bosses for the texting they are doing while they threaten to swap paint with you?

I credit time management skills. What others do in hours, I do in minutes. I work my shift and then study and work on what I call skunk projects. These are programming tasks my manager would likely not approve, but once completed off the company clock are expected to make our operations more efficient.

And I have a quick parable to illustrate. An executive officer, a network technician, a project manager, an applications developer, and a systems admin walk into a bar.

Fine, let 'em booze it up. I can do all their jobs. At least those portions of their jobs I wouldn't just automate.

Distracted driving is inexcusable but there is another side to the coin.

When I've run late for meetings or appointments, I'm usually flogged for running late. I get that, but it's given me a little insight into the demographics of slackers.

There are two classes of people who walk into a meeting late. There's the undisciplined fellow who had things to do that were more important to him than your time, and there is also the guy who worked harder than anyone else to get there on time. His arrival marked the earliest possible instance he could show up.

I'm not saying punctuality isn't a hallmark of a productive person, but on the other hand every time a manager is hard on someone for showing up late, it's a little vote for more multitasking behind the wheel.

Of course, don't text and drive. On the other hand, if the minute weren't so unforgiving maybe we would have less carnage on the highway.

Yeah, I know. No way that could happen.

For a nicely focused view of drivers who text, ride a motorcycle. There you are, in a state of elevated awareness because second by second you're actively involved with your fate. The tragic comedy of drivers and cell phones is crystal clear.

And very personal.