You Know What April Is?
It's National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
You know how I'm celebrating?
With my very own ticket for texting.
My conversation with the extremely polite Redwood City policeman went something like this:
But I was just checking a Google map. No.
But I was just changing my Pandora station. No.
But I was just looking at a picture, not texting or emailing. No.
Here look, you can see for yourself, no text or email sent or opened. That's okay.
So in what instance would I ever be holding a phone and not get a ticket? Ma'am you probably just want to keep your phone away from your hands.
I was a lot more calm than I thought I'd be given that I was flying out of a crazy work day, running late for a doctor's appointment I'd already missed the last week, texting my sister and speeding through the empty streets of a business park. To be honest, I thought I was getting a speeding ticket.
So I tried to look at it pragmatically. I speed, I weave through traffic, I tailgate, I put on makeup while I drive, I steer with my knees, I read, I text, I eat, I call people, I push my blood alcohol limits. I talk using my hands to hold my phone to my face. I brush my hair, I drive with the music too loud, I play air drums, I change clothes and possibly, I've been known to have an occasional brush with a tiny bit of road rage.
But to endure a daily commute of 45+ miles day in and day out, the weekly late night drives to Tahoe, the drives up and down the coast, requires stimulation that driving with my hands at 11 and 2 on a steering wheel just doesn't provide. I like to think that my distractions heighten my sense of awareness by keeping me engaged, rather than staring off into the abyss on the those long, faceless, flat stretches of road.
Of course just writing all that makes me feel a little brazen, like I'm introducing some bad juju into my life. Maybe you've got me thinking after all, National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Well played.
You know how I'm celebrating?
With my very own ticket for texting.
My conversation with the extremely polite Redwood City policeman went something like this:
But I was just checking a Google map. No.
But I was just changing my Pandora station. No.
But I was just looking at a picture, not texting or emailing. No.
Here look, you can see for yourself, no text or email sent or opened. That's okay.
So in what instance would I ever be holding a phone and not get a ticket? Ma'am you probably just want to keep your phone away from your hands.
I was a lot more calm than I thought I'd be given that I was flying out of a crazy work day, running late for a doctor's appointment I'd already missed the last week, texting my sister and speeding through the empty streets of a business park. To be honest, I thought I was getting a speeding ticket.
So I tried to look at it pragmatically. I speed, I weave through traffic, I tailgate, I put on makeup while I drive, I steer with my knees, I read, I text, I eat, I call people, I push my blood alcohol limits. I talk using my hands to hold my phone to my face. I brush my hair, I drive with the music too loud, I play air drums, I change clothes and possibly, I've been known to have an occasional brush with a tiny bit of road rage.
But to endure a daily commute of 45+ miles day in and day out, the weekly late night drives to Tahoe, the drives up and down the coast, requires stimulation that driving with my hands at 11 and 2 on a steering wheel just doesn't provide. I like to think that my distractions heighten my sense of awareness by keeping me engaged, rather than staring off into the abyss on the those long, faceless, flat stretches of road.
Of course just writing all that makes me feel a little brazen, like I'm introducing some bad juju into my life. Maybe you've got me thinking after all, National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Well played.
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