Hey. How’s that new cell phone law working for you? Not so well for me.
Wasn’t it supposed to eliminate delays and accidents and road rage caused by can’t-walk-and-chew-gum-behind-the-wheel dysfunctionals and cell phone abusers? Got news for you…it’s not working.
I know. It’s early. Hasn’t even been a year, yet. But the reality is I’m still getting stuck behind start-stop-weave-start-stop drivers on a regular basis. I’m talking both hands off the wheel, wildly gesticulating, talking non-stop into their head set (eyes on the head set frequently) as if the person they are talking to is right there with them — and as if there is no one else on the road beside, behind or in front of them.
And, for the record, I still see plenty of drivers holding cell phones to their ear in flagrant violation of the newly established regulations. The only difference is now they’re paying less attention to the road because they are constantly searching in all directions, wild eyed and alert for the police officer that should be busting them. That is criminal.
Glad we got it taken care of.
And moving in a completely unrelated yet equally disturbing direction…
Somebody want to tell me when we lost control of Halloween? Used to be one night of the year, you put on a sheet with holes in it…or made a black cape out of crepe paper and a pointy hat from some cardboard you found in the garage…or put on your dads old torn up work clothes and rubbed some coffee grounds on your face… or turned a TV carton into a silver-painted robot body and you were good to go for one good night of serious candy predation.
It lasted one night (with a parade-at-school preamble) and then life went on.
It was for kids.
Forget going to haunted houses or Knott’s Scary Farm or drink-till-you-drop excess extravaganzas the entire month of October. It was scary enough just walking the neighborhood in the dark for that one night. Well, my neighborhood at least.
Now we’ve got costume shops in every strip mall and Halloween gets as much of a lead-in as Christmas. No moral indignation here – I just don’t need that particular brand of chaos more than once a year.
Candy has taken a back seat to plastic heads, dismembered body part replicas, and all variety of slasher weaponry. Even the hardware stores are selling Giant Skull Monsters and Life-Size Moaning Witches, and Hanging Zombies and Gored-Out Serial Killer Porch Screamers and Hairy Spiders the size of SUV’s — right next to the patio furniture.
My alma mater, UCSB, turns into a giant life-threatening Mosh Pit on Halloween weekend. Squads of crisis cops patrol Isla Vista to stem the growing tide of malicious mischief, assault and rape – not to mention public drunkedness and DUIs. Local merchants close their doors. Taxi drivers won’t even go there. Police cordons are erected to keep outsiders out. Tell me something…what do the kids in Isla Vista do? Kevlar costumes?
Here’s an idea: more trick or treat, less hit-and-run.
Halloween was for kids. Now it’s just dangerous.
Be safe.
…Scot.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Marilu // Feb 11, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Regarding cell phones being used in vehicles. Down here in San Diego, we have several colleges in close proximity of our little burb. These young adults in their cars are full of electronic distractions, including the cell phone. But they are not only on their cells without headsets but their mind isn’t there behind the wheel. It is apparent in the way they are driving – often slower than the flow of traffic, often swerving in and out of their lane. The other sinister thing they are often doing with that illuminated electronic gadget is text messaging while driving. My husband and I one misty evening were driving towards the freeway and at the first stop light, we both silently observed the gal in the car to our left texting away on her cell phone. The stretch of road before the next traffic light declines a bit, with active decision making of heading to the freeway on ramps. Us in our large truck (or often called the pup mobile) kept a safe distance to what we half expected to happen. The text messaging guru was going a decent click to the next light and was not slowing down. Yup, sure enough, she rear-ended the big Explorer in front of her. Hmmm, some lessons do have to come the hard way. She had considerable damage to her car. She appeared to be physically okay but maybe she got her wake up call about phone usage while driving?
Regarding Halloween. It use to be great fun to see the neighborhood kids in their costumes at your door. Now days, we are often turning off the porch light early – trying to avoid the bus loads of kids and teenagers from outside the area envading our basically quiet neighborhood. It is the new kind of scare that comes with it, nowhere near the fictional fear in Ray Bradbuty’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes” that a particular English teacher had us read back in high school.
2 scotsimm // May 4, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I think we had the same English teacher. And nice to know I’m not the only one noticing that cell phones are turning our highways into “Death Race 2009.”
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