Liberal's Dream: A Risk Free World
So now the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) wants to outlaw "all drivers from using electronic devices while driving, including for text messaging," (ABC Good Morning America article by Huma Khan and Lisa Stark dd 12/13/11).
If someone trips and falls on a sidewalk, should all pedestrians be forbidden from using sidewalks? There can be irregularities in the surface which certainly have the potential to trip someone. That person might break a bone or even fall into someone else, endangering that person, too.
Perhaps we should outlaw grocery carts. They are sometimes used irresponsibly, ridden by exuberant youth or deployed inattentively in the store or the parking lot. Or even stolen and pushed around the neighborhood - or across a street! My God, the hazards we are tolerating.
All to say, the government should not outlaw a function that is harmless in and of itself but instead circumscribe the dangerous or reckless behavior. Instead of outlawing the use of cell phones in cars, outlaw reckless driving (wait, I think that is already illegal). Penalize the misuse of a car (driving inattentively), but do not impose a blanket ban on cell phones as a convenient short cut in trying to prevent all cell phone related risky behavior.
If someone trips and falls on a sidewalk, should all pedestrians be forbidden from using sidewalks? There can be irregularities in the surface which certainly have the potential to trip someone. That person might break a bone or even fall into someone else, endangering that person, too.
Perhaps we should outlaw grocery carts. They are sometimes used irresponsibly, ridden by exuberant youth or deployed inattentively in the store or the parking lot. Or even stolen and pushed around the neighborhood - or across a street! My God, the hazards we are tolerating.
All to say, the government should not outlaw a function that is harmless in and of itself but instead circumscribe the dangerous or reckless behavior. Instead of outlawing the use of cell phones in cars, outlaw reckless driving (wait, I think that is already illegal). Penalize the misuse of a car (driving inattentively), but do not impose a blanket ban on cell phones as a convenient short cut in trying to prevent all cell phone related risky behavior.
posted by alison @ 2:39 PM
0 comments
