Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Don't threaten me with a wooden paddle!

The whole new cell phone/ipod law really, REALLY erks me. Perhaps its because I frequently listen to my ipod and drive... and on occasional (more times than not) text and drive, and talk on my phone and drive.

This new legislation in Ontario, is being put in place to ban all of that from happening... I feel as though the Ontario government is a big meanie parent, slapping their misbehaved children in the ass with a wooden paddle.

At 16 to 21 or even 25 years of age... perhaps the wooden paddle is necessary. New drivers, whether they be teens or new immigrants, they should be concentrating on one thing and one thing only, learning the rules of the road, etc. But at (almost) 30 years of age, and someone who has been driving for close to 15 years, I think I know when its safe to drive and talk, text and talk, and use my ipod or GPS. Wooden paddle is not necessary ... and frankly the threat of it, makes me want to do it even more - to see how in fact they are going 'to catch' me breaking the law.

I feel this law is a bit silly because you can't text and drive, but you can still eat a peanut butter and honey bagel, drip it on your good work pants, and then frantically serve all over the road looking for a napkin to wipe it up. $500 fine for one, $12 dry-cleaning bill for the other.

You can't change songs on your ipod, but you can search for one of 50 burned CDs on the backseat of your car, throw it in the CD player in the dash, and look for a song that way.

You can't talk and drive, but there is no law against reading a 100 page document while in morning traffic. You can't enter an address on your GPS while driving, but feel free to shuffle through 6 pages of print-out directions from Google Maps, while swerving all over the road.

You can't change songs on your ipod, send a text, or make a phone call, but feel free to drive around with a screaming infant in your backseat, while you intently try to shove a soother in his mouth from the front seat, or grab a bottle out his hand before he dumps it all over himself for the 60th time. Nope... no law against that.

Yes... to me this law is petty, when applied to experienced drivers. While new drivers these days, have been born with a cell-phone and ipods attached to their hip, perhaps they don't know better - but for myself, and someone twice my age ... I think personal judgment is still working fine, and can be applied without the threat of the wooden paddle.

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