Cellphones are a distraction. But so is coffee, screaming children, adults quarrelling, and reading the newspaper. Are you going to ban them as well?
- Former Canada Safety Council President Emile Therien
Has the B.C. Liberal government gone completely mad?
Has the summer heat melted their marbles?
Because Premier Gordon Campbell and crew seem to have lost their senses.
First it was the outrageously unfair Harmonized Sales Tax suddenly announced last month that puts a new seven-per-cent tax on most goods and services currently exempt from the Provincial Sales Tax.
And a hearty thanks to 24 hours readers and others who have already joined my Facebook.com protest group NO BC HST - more than 16,000 people signed up in less than six days!
Then on Friday afternoon of a long weekend the government cancelled the program that loaned $670 million to leaky condo owners.
But something else has got me steamed - Solicitor General Kash Heed is considering banning cellphone use in cars.
B.C.'s Top Cop has given us until August 7 to comment.
Here's my response - get your hands off my hands-free car cellphone!
In case you haven't noticed Kash, there's a bloody gang war going on, sex-trade workers are being murdered, drunk drivers and street racers are killing people, and your priority is taking away my cellphone?
Wake up!
We don't need more laws telling us what to do - we have more than enough already!
If I crash my car because I was distracted by my cellphone - and I always use my hands-free car kit - charge me with existing laws - driving with undue care and attention or dangerous driving.
Here's an idea, Kash - while you're at it, ban drivers arguing with their partners; screaming kids; dogs; playing AC/DC's Highway To Hell at maximum volume - anything distracting!
Kash - look at a University of North Carolina study that analyzed five years of highway accident data.
It discovered: "The most frequently reported sources of distraction for drivers involved in tow-away accidents were outside persons, objects or events (29.4%), followed by adjusting the radio, CD or cassette (11.4%), and then by other occupants in the vehicle (10.9%)."
Using a cellphone ranked far down their list with a frequency of 1.5%.
The truth is, Kash, that life is unsafe - and what's worse, it always results in death!
And if living a long life is your big concern, ban being fat, smoking and eating red meat daily!
Can we really just legislate compulsory common sense?
I think not.
So until then, keep your hands off my hands-free cellphone!
Go to billtieleman.blogspot. com for the link to where you can tell Kash what to do.
Read more from Bill Tieleman at www.thetyee.ca Hear Bill Mondays at 10 a.m. on CKNW AM 980's Bill Good Show. Email: weststar@telus.net
