S.T.D. (Stop Texting & Driving)

The other day I was reading through the blog "By Chance" when I came upon the posting for "Drivers can be a menace." I was amazed at the story of the driver who showed a total lack of respect for himself and the other motorist on the road. Then I got to thinking what is the one thing other people do when they drive that annoys me to no end and then it hit me.

Thanks Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and every other major wireless carrier for adding another feature that makes people a little worse at driving. Enter the world of the text message and the age off people who spend more time staring at their 2"x 2.5" screen making sure that they hit the number 6 the correct amount of times and got an n and not on o, rather than watching the road ahead.

Now that is one thing that just about makes me want to find some object in my car (preferably a milkshake), roll down the window and fire it at the window of the idiot driving down the road next to me, whose sight line is below the steering wheel and pressing the tiny little buttons on their new Moto Razr. I am thinking to myself are you that gifted or just that stupid. You are doing 40 miles an hour down 309 and you are seeing more of the emblem embedded on your steering wheel than you are that upcoming red light.

I can't imagine what that text message has to offer that is so important that it is worth putting your own life and the lives of others at risk. I can almost see it now as your are messaging back to your bff, to tell her about your new bf and that u will c her later lol…and then BOOM, you plow into the side of a mini van that is turning because they have a green light. How would you feel when you find out that the 3 kids in to van are D.O.A. (Texting often uses acronyms, so I could not resist)

I am not trying to sound like only teenage girls are texting their friends while driving either. I have seen people of all age groups with their phone in hand working the tiny keypad while thoughtlessly driving down the road. I have a family member who does this all the time and it makes me nuts if I am in the car with this person while they are driving. I just want to slap them upside the head and say thanks for putting my life at risk.

There are a lot of things asinine drivers do that set me off, like thinking the blinker is optional or riding my bumper (when I am doing the speed limit) thinking it will make me go faster, but nothing infuriates me more than seeing some moronic person behind the wheel of a half ton automobile, who is in la-la-land and paying more attention to this device than they are the road ahead of them.

If your text message is that important then pull your car off the road into a parking lot, stop the vehicle and then send your text message. The even safer alternative is just leaving your phone off until you get where you are going.

Our lawmakers can't act fast enough to make texting while driving illegal.