Out here in Calfornia, it’s hard to remember how it was. Back in the bad old days, before the state banned the use of handheld cell phones while driving.
Sure you see the occasional fool holding a mobile phone to his ear, but for the most part people here have accepted that phone calls can wait until the drive’s over. Too bad we can’t quantify the quite apparent but subjective truth that the freeways are better and safer with the cell phone and text messaging bans.
It was gratifying, then, to read this bit of confirmation in a letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun:
I just returned from a week’s vacation in southern California, and I was amazed that during my many trips on I-5 and I-405 that I did not see one person holding a cell phone while driving. … Also, I did not see cars wandering from one lane to another, cars going to slow on the interstate, and no accidents. Surprisingly, California drivers were attentive (even though they drive very fast) to what other cars were doing around them.
Thanks, Ron Wirsing. You’re welcome in our Golden State anytime.
