Put the phone down

When driving, please ignore your phone.  Put it down, turn it off, do whatever you have to do.





Just drive the car.

Thank you.


Take the pledge now:  It Can Wait: Texting & Driving

Texting and driving: A prediction

I'm amazed at the frequency with which I see people texting and driving as I go down streets and highways. It's nearly constant. And it got me to thinking. I believe that either one more, huge accident is going to take place, like the one on the East side of the state that involved a school bus, or a series of accidents will and suddenly, the nation will be ready for tough laws on texting while driving. It seems that's what it's going to take. We'll see, eh? Here's how the laws were, state by state, in 2009:

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texting_while_driving; http://www.caranddriver.com/features/texting-while-driving-how-dangerous-is-it; http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cell-phone/statistics.html

For anyone who knocks city bike lanes

A statistic: When protected bike lanes are installed in New York City, injury crashes for all road users (drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists) typically drop by 40% and by more than 50% in some locations. Now doesn't that make sense, then? Link: http://www.bikesbelong.org/resources/stats-and-research/statistics/when-protected-bike-lanes-are-installed

I'd love to have a beer with this guy

I expected KC on this list

A report is out today on Yahoo! News, listing the "15 Dangerous Cities for Driving" and, to my surprise, anyway, the Kansas City metropolitan area isn't on it. Thank goodness. As it turns out, Florida is the worst state overall with the South "over-represented." I'll leave that alone here. What was most interesting and noteworthy to our area, I thought, too, is that Little Rock was number 4 worst, and Tulsa was 13 and Oklahoma neighbor Oklahoma City was 15. On the far more positive side, neighboring Lincoln, Nebraska was ranked 6th safest city in the nation while Omaha was number 9. Link: http://autos.yahoo.com/news/15-dangerous-cities-for-driving.html

A couple notes on local government

Did you see or hear the story in the news about this guy, Clayton Dunlap, who had 16--that's sixteen--different charges from the past for driving while impaired, one way or another?

Yeah, sixteen times he drove while either drunk or high or something.

The previous one, before having just killed a 12-year-old boy and seriously injuring his Mother, was only last month. He had driven while high on PCP and lead the police on a high speed chase.

Did you see how long he stayed in jail for that? It was in the newspaper this morning, on the front page.

According to the Star "He served only a few days..."

Holy cow.

I'd love to find out who the rocket-scientist judge that was.

Great evaluation of character and danger to the society there, Judge.

Not.

So now, again, according to the Star "the county vows to do more to keep such drivers locked up."

Right.

I'll bet, don't you?

I'm not holding my breath.

Besides, the horse already left that corral.

Not that there aren't more instances where this can't apply but it's more than a little difficult to believe much will change.

As I so frequently say, here's hoping.

The other note: a small blurb in the paper from the "Around the Nation" column says that "Law enforcement officials in Newark, New Jersey say March was the city's first month without a killing in more than 40 years."

Quick, have the KCMO and KCK Police Departments get them on the phone immediately, at the very least.

Maybe it's worth someone from each staff going out and seeing what they're doing right and if we can apply any of it here.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

Great insights

If you haven't read Midtown Miscreant's latest post , you need to.

Go.

Do it.

Now.

Then, read his Part 1 of this thought process from yesterday .

And thank him.

This from a "liberal" who's supposed to want people to "get off easy", right?