Cell Phone Ban

Granted, texting while driving is dumb and dangerous. I've done it in the past and granted I'm taking a big chance. But why is it that I don't think the cell phone ban (while driving) will make any difference? Whether you are talking on a handsfree or talking with the phone in your left (or right) hand, it's equally dangerous. If you're going to ban cell phone use while driving, then ban ALL cell phone use. It's not the cell phone that causes accidents, it's bad driving that causes accidents. Why don't they ban all stereos from cars or make it compulsory to have voice-activated controls? Why don't they ban babies from front seats because they are often a big distraction? And gee, all these SUV's with DVD players installed, um, why are they there?

Bad driving is bad driving, laws like this will do nothing for safety. The bad drivers will always be there.

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Restaurant Manners

I like to eat in peace. If I am having a meal by myself I would like to eat without having people blabber at Volume 11. If I am on a date, I would like to be able to talk to her without having to raise my voice.

I'm not asking other patrons to be quiet. They are of course more than entitled to talk. And if I am a bar or pub then I expect there to be more noise than usual. Even at a casual restaurant, I expect laughing and chatting. But I find it rude that people decide that they have to talk especially loud, without respect for their neighboring patrons. It seems that a lot of times there is always one person who has to be the center of attention, so he/she finds it necessary to talk louder than anyone else.

Manners

I talked about Rules of the Road in a past entry but something really irked me yesterday as I was walking downtown. We complain a lot about drivers and cyclists who don't follow rules, but what about pedestrians? I'm not even talking about crossing the road, it's walking in general. If you want to use your cell phone while you're walking could you at least look at where you're going instead of looking down at the ground? If you hear or see something or someone behind you could you maybe stop instead of walking randomly toward me?