Yeah, I’m talking to you jackasses who think you can safely “text” while driving a car. It’s goddamned bad enough that you swerve all over the farookin’ highway at 75 miles per hour while blabbing on your cell phone, but now I see that you are “texting” while driving.

I had no idea that this was an issue until this morning when I heard that the New York State Senate approved a bill that would prohibit “texting” while driving. My initial thought was, “Do they really need a law? Who in their right mind would try to read and send text messages while driving?”

Silly me.

It turns out that sponsors of the legislation relied on a “…a recent survey conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. showing that one in five drivers text behind the wheel; most are between the ages of 18 and 34.”

Three in five? Holy crap!

Are you people out of your minds?

Consider someone who actually is paying complete attention to driving and who is driving at 70 mph. From the moment that person spots an emergency, the car will travel 77 feet before his foot will reach the brake pedal. The car will travel an additional 269 feet before stopping, for a total of 346 feet (more than the length of a football field) between seeing an emergency and actually stopping. (link).

Now, imagine how that works out if the car travels three hundred feet before you even see an emergency because you were busy “texting.” BLAMMO!

To borrow a phrase from the Late Great Acidman, anyone who texts while driving ought to be dragged off and shot.

Damned fools.

Sunset Over the Gulf
My sorry ass may be back home in Jersey, but my mind is still here.