It’s Blackmail

Why is it that men find it necessary to blackmail others into doing things that are good and right from the start. First, I am amazed that men need to be blackmailed, and secondly, that others are willing to do the blackmailing.

Since men and women first started driving automobiles, they have found distractions a problem. When I was a teenager we didn’t have cell phones (yes we did have telephones) but we did have radios, friends, food, and conversation (I could go on and on), and we were often distracted by those things and others.

Doing anything other than concentrating 100 per cent of the time on the responsibilities of driving is foolishness, yet we all do it. I continue to be amazed as some folks (mostly women, I think) apply their make-up while driving in heavy traffic. I see people reading, eating, dressing, shaving, dancing, and sleeping while driving. It’s a wonder we are not all involved in a wreck every day.

But, why would we have to blackmail our legislators to do the right thing? Here’s the word from Washington, D.C. – Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats introduced legislation in July that would require states to ban texting or e-mailing while operating a moving vehicle or lose 25 percent of their annual federal highway funding.

Not that it will help much, but any change that keeps distractions to a minimum, is a good thing. What we really need is not more laws, but better, more conscientious, concerned-about-others-as-well-as-themselves, drivers. That’s an education problem.

Maybe Congress could blackmail Driver’s Ed teachers.