It's getting worse!

The other day I was heading home from work thinking about the vacation week ahead. I was traveling on a two-lane parkway and it was the middle of the day, yet inexplicably there was a build up of traffic. All the northbound drivers were making their way around one SUV, which was in the right lane but only traveling at about 35 mph in a 55 mph zone. In effect, it was as if one lane had been shut down. As I got up to the slow moving vehicle, I could see a middle-aged woman texting and laughing. She was so busy having fun that she didn’t even notice she was causing traffic to back up for a mile or better.

I don't think that hands free cell phone laws are unreasonable. I can see that talking while driving can be a distraction -- but at least you can keep your eyes on the road while you’re both speaking and listening.

There’s no way you’re going to either read or enter text unless your eyes are on your handheld device for a good amount of time. This woman had to look down at her screen while driving; meaning she had her eyes off the road for seconds at a time – on a major roadway, no less!

This was too serious to ignore so I got in front of her and nearly stopped her SUV. She did have to hit her brakes and she got the message and put down her phone. Later, one of my friends asked if I’d thought of calling the cops. I hadn’t thought of it, but I wonder how our local police department would’ve reacted. I can’t help but think they’re too busy to respond to calls like that. Two wrongs don't make a right, but I was so irritated that I had to do something.