Message to all texting drivers: U r dum, danjrus!
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Message to all texting drivers: U r dum, danjrus! - 5/21/2007 9:47:39 AM
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HankL
Posts: 2719
Joined: 8/20/2005
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Posted on Mon, May. 21, 2007
Message to all texting drivers: U r dum, danjrus!
By LARRY LEBOWITZ, Miami Herald
Msg 2 my edtr: stuk on plmetto. txtng colum frm car. $@%*&!!! sum jrk on cel fone jus kut me off.
Earlier this month, Washington state became the first in the United States to outlaw DWT -- Driving While Texting.
The law was in reaction to a five-car pileup caused by a BlackBerry user. New Jersey, California and Arizona are debating similar bans.
No such worries in Florida, where reams of statistics haven't convinced the Legislature that enforcing a mandatory seat-belt law would save lives, much less a crackdown on driver distractions such as cellphones and text-messaging devices.
Anyone on South Florida's streets knows that a distracted driver is a dangerous driver. It's only going to get worse over time as less tech-savvy seniors are replaced in the driving population by legions of teenagers with mutant thumb dexterity.
Texting has become the primary form of communication for millions of teens and young adults. Plenty of parents are freaking out at the idea of the next generation armed with addictive ''smart'' phones but driving dumb.
Take, for example, Carlos Jimenez, a 24-year-old from Coral Gables who is juggling a full-time job as a bailiff at the Miami-Dade criminal courthouse while finishing his bachelor's degree at Florida International University.
Jimenez is a text-message junkie.
In a few short weeks, his BlackBerry has become a crackberry, an electronic tether that never lets go. Jimenez estimates he's looked at it ''hundreds of times'' while driving around town. He knows it's wrong. He knows it's dangerous. And he can't stop.
''It's like heroin, you can't put it down,'' Jimenez said. ``And then people get mad because [Miami's] the worst city to drive in. I believe it and I'm a part of it now.''
When did Jimenez realize he had a problem? Perhaps it was the young lady who got so upset on their first date because he kept checking his crackberry every 20 minutes.
Like any high-functioning junkie, Jimenez can come up with a decent rationalization or two.
``Look, I know I've got a problem. But look at it this way. I drive to the Metro[rail] every day. So I'm only a danger for the drivers of Coral Gables. And then I get on the train at Douglas Road . . . and continue checking my e-mail.''
But give this English major a little credit for self-awareness and some degree of standards. Jimenez recognizes his problem runs a tad deeper because he refuses to adopt the shorthand slang and emoticons of the txt-msging universe:
``I write the whole word out. I don't use the text lingo. I punctuate. Even use apostrophes. Which, I guess, makes me even more hazardous.''
So, what's the answer?
The Florida Legislature has considered cellphone restrictions in the past.
This year's measure, sponsored by Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens, would have also prohibited sending text messages. The cellphone lobby has lots of juice in Tallahassee. Wilson's bill died with barely a whimper in a Senate committee and nobody would sponsor a companion in the House.
I'm a big believer in personal responsibility before regulation. But I'm enough of a realist/pessimist/cynic to recognize that personal responsibility isn't going to get that lady who's driving 45 mph in the far left lanes of I-595 to stay off the phone.
And it's not going to force that dude in the middle-aged-crisis convertible Porsche to pay attention to the changing signals on traffic-choked Coral Way instead of checking his PDA for messages.
A ban on DWT and other forms of driver distractions would be impossible to enact, much less enforce in this era of immediate gratification, short attention spans and instant communications.
Besides, what would become of the text junkies -- those poor slaves tethered to their electronic masters, who can't go five minutes without checking their e-mail, trying to score points with somebody else's girlfriend or looking up that hysterical Chongalicious video on YouTube?
Got a commuting question or an idea for a future column? Contact Larry Lebowitz at streetwise@MiamiHerald.com or call him at 305-376-3410.
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