As of July 1st, it is illegal in Washington State to talk on your mobile phone or send/read text messages while driving.
This doesn't bother me one bit. I am perfectly capable of driving and talking on the phone at the same time, but many people aren't. Because of this, something had to be done, because people incapable of driving and talking at the same time are probably incapable of realizing they shouldn't do it. Naturally, I'm a little upset that I can't make calls on the road anymore, but it's a small price to pay if it's going to stop idiots from killing people. Besides, all I have to do is buy a hands-free adapter for my iPhone, and I'll be able to make calls again, so it's really not a big deal.
Except...
Yesterday as I was driving back home over the mountain pass, I got stuck behind a car going 10 miles per hour under the speed limit and driving erratically from time to time. This is typical of some idiots I've seen who have trouble talking on their mobile phone while driving, so I was understandably pissed that some dumbass was breaking a law that I have to follow.
Eventually, a passing lane appeared, and I noticed that the woman driving was not talking on her mobile phone.
She was eating.
And by "eating" I actually mean "dining" because it's not like she had a burger in her hand and was chomping away. The woman had a plate of food on top of her dashboard and was EATING WITH A FORK!! For all I know, she had a knife in her other hand and was driving with her knees.
All of which, apparently, is perfectly legal.
So where is the law to protect us from stupid bitches like this?!?
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HAHA!!
It’s funny that you mention this…ever since they’ve taken away my God given right to text while driving (snort), I’ve noticed the other things I do which are just as heinous. Looking for that cd I have to have, picking up something that dropped on the floor board, finding gum in my purse…these are all things I’ve done.
In any case, it’s not like there was ever any doubt that I am a crazy driver so yanno…
Seriously, with a plate and fork? I have nothing snarky to say because I am too busy laughing at the idiocy of it.
But driving and talking/texting on your cell phone is illegal here in CA too. Which doesn’t bother me because I could never talk and drive at the same time so I never did.
Holy effin’ crap that sh*t pisses me off. These people DO NOT have brains!
All the news items quote the July 1st law just as you did. However, I believe it is actually a secondary offense. This means that you would need to be pulled over for another offense (speeding, for example), at which point you could also be ticketed for talking on a cellphone.
Wow, you seriously live in some demented place hahaha!
I can’t even begin to imagine driving and having food on the dashboard! That’s ridiculous to the nth degree!
It’s been illegal to drive here whilst using a mobile phone for a while but I still see people doing it all the time *sigh*
Your earbuds don’t count as a hands-free adapter?
I had an interesting conversation with someone who told me that the hands free thing doesn’t really help. It is the conversation that is the distraction to driving. He said they’ve done studies. I was thinking wow, imagine when the innovator for the passenger seat came along and everyone was up in arms about the safety hazard of chatting with someone in the seat next to you!
You can use the earbuds that came with your phone. Just don’t put both of them in or you won’t hear the ambulance behind you.
Good grief!!! I have seen people do similar things – don’t they realise that they have control of a machine that weighs at the very least one tonne (and that’s not including the physics of weight at speed!) and can do untold damage.
It’s bad enough trying to change the CD or check the map, but food – with a fork!!?
Even though there is no law specifically forbidding eating in a car there is a “reckless driving” law which would cover what she was doing. A cop would have pulled her over if he saw that. At least I hope they would.
God, how did you control yourself? I am pretty good about dealing with jerks on the road nowadays, but there are times that I will just lose it on someone. I would have completely LOST it on that woman. I hate it when women do that and give all us other women drivers who KNOW how to drive a bad name. Evil wench.
I’m always amazed at the people who READ while they’re driving (and we’re talking novels…not maps). Haven’t they heard of Books on Tape/CD? And the gals who use their moving vehicles as makeup counters…got the mirror down and applying their makeup like they’re in their bathroom at home. Unbelievable, the stupidity of some people.
My personal record is talking on my cell phone, playing a game on my laptop, and eating a plastic container of soup while drving 70 MPH.
But I hate those people. 🙂
I once got rammed from behind by someone cos he was so busy changing the song on his ipod and driving at 60 mph he hadn’t seen me pull out in front of him. moral of the story? well, at the end of the day you can’t ban idiots from driving!
I hope she accidentally stabs herself with that fork in her eyeball.
Can iphones take video’s? In the least, you should’ve gotten pix of her license plate and her activity then, spread that b*tch all over the internet. (You could just tell the the highway patrolman that pulled you over that you weren’t either texting or talking on you cell phone).
Hopefully she drove off the road, missing everyone else and ended up with the fork in her eye or similar. Am having a no sympathy for stupidity day.
My wife gets after me for texting while driving. I don’t do it that often, but there are those rare times when I need to send a quick reply.
I do use a bluetooth headset while driving (and sometimes at home when I have to be on conference calls and need hands-free computing).
I don’t know if there are state laws that are generic enough to cover ANY driving distraction… eating, putting on makeup, smoking, etc… Anything that takes your hands off the wheel for any length of time while driving should have some illegal status assigned to it. I know we all are guilty at times, but it’s the regular abusers that are the hindering danger on the roads.
It is killing me not to talk while driving as I’m commuting a lot and that used to be my time to connect with hubby or friends. So it does twerk me when I see someone else breaking the law.
Eating, ya have done the occassional burger while driving but a full fledge meal….come on lady…pull the frick over and eat.
Here in Florida women loooove to apply make-up while driving…
Could have been worse…. could have been chopsticks…
i have seen people read the newspaper and also seen the people read paperback books. normal fast food eating, but i can’t believe that bitch had a knife and fork. i might have considered dialing 911 and reporting that twat’s erratic driving. coz i am a bitch that way.
Oh yes. I’ve seen that too. Nothing surprises me anymore. I love the texters while driving. Or the make up doers.
I miss common sense. I wish it would come back.
A couple of years after the OJ thing had quieted down, I saw Ron Goldman’s sister driving down Sepulveda Blvd toward West LA. I was on my way to work and it happened to be one of those days where Sepulveda was moving faster than the 405. I gawked at her, not because she was the shrewish Goldman chick, but because she was doing her hair (she had curlers in that she was taking out), and her makeup, and was singing with the radio (at least that’s what it looked like). She was paying no attention whatsoever to the road and almost ran one of the lights. A guy on a motorcycle honked loudly at her… and instead of her thinking it was because she was all over the road, she must have thought he recognized her because she gave a little celebrity wave and big fake smile. Ugh.
Part of me wishes they would outlaw picking one’s nose while driving. But then, I would have nothing to do while going through the motions behind the wheel of my phat minivan.
Wait. Did I just admit to that? On-line? Shit.
We went “hands free” in CA this month, which makes it easier to read my book.
ny has recently updated their distracted driving laws to include eating and drinking (ie: soda etc, booze still falls under the dw/ui laws, were not that screwed up. yet.)
hasn’t made a bit of difference. so far it’s been about as effective as the phone ban.
not surprisingly, some of the worst offenders i see are driving in vehicles with official plates and cops.
lovely.
I was wondering the same thing as I was driving home from Whole Foods last night while eating a raw vegan cheesecake. Yum rhymes with dumb. 😉