October 3rd, 2007 at 4:08 am
The Houston Chronicle has an article (link dead) on cell phone usage while driving and bemoans the fact that Texas hasn’t banned it yet.
Halliburton has a policy of no cell phone use while driving in a company vehicle, in a personal vehicle on company grounds, or in a personal vehicle with a company cell phone. Driving while on the phone can be a firing offense. There is financial incentive for companies to avoid accidents. There is also incentive for employees to have “buddies” that will say they were driving while the person on the phone was in the passenger seat.
We also have personal incentive not to use cell phones or other distractions when the situation gets dangerous. We can also suggest that a driver on the road call us at a later time, if we care about that person.
That said, the more I drive Texas, it seems, the bigger it gets. I-10 from Houston to San Antonio, or I-20 from Dallas to Shreveport is boring stuff. Keeping my brain engaged has been a good thing in the past. Not as much attention is needed on those roads as, say, Houston’s Beltway 8 at 9pm when the de facto speed limit seems to be about 90-95. But that’s another problem.
I don’t recall truckers having problems with CB use on the road. Maybe it’s a speaker verses headset issue. Maybe it’s a training issue.
Enforcement seems to be a fun issue, too. Do they take pictures of you on the EZ-Tag system, then send you a bill if you’re seen with your mouth open and a headset in your ear? Or, when they pull you over for another offense, see a cell phone in the passenger seat and assume the worst? Or, since we have the technology, are we going to get Big Brother enough to match up GPS information or speedometer records with cell phone records?
If they can ban cell phone usage in cars, watch out for eating bans. If that happens, then it’s going to take me another hour for every four just to get somewhere. I could get arrested for having an open Burger King wrapper in the passenger seat. 
There are plenty of idiots on the road. They don’t get weeded out at the state legislative house. It might be best not to trust them with this issue. 
