Letter: Disable cellphones in vehicles
NY State Police will be cracking down on Thanksgiving weekend drivers found texting or talking on cellphones as part of "Operation Hang Up', officials said. They will be conducting the patrols starting Wednesday and continuing through Nov. 25. (Nov. 16, 2012) Credit: AP
I travel more than 500 miles in a given day. Almost every 10 miles, I see either makeshift memorials, violent skid marks off the road, damaged guardrails, torn-up landscape, damaged trees or debris from crashed vehicles ["Driver sought in pedestrian's death," News, Dec. 30]. I read all the time of car and truck crashes in Newsday.
Cellphone companies are not doing enough to address the issue of distracted driving. Our police are not doing enough.
I have many times avoided head-on collisions from oncoming vehicles and often avoid cars entering my lane alongside of me. Many friends, neighbors and loved ones have become victims of this crash epidemic.
I walk for exercise in my neighborhood and have had neighbors almost strike me with their cars because of distraction from the use of a cellphones. My car parked in front of my home was destroyed by a distracted driver recently.
It is time the government stepped in to require that cellphone companies offer a technology that disables a phone while a vehicle is moving. If people elect to turn off the restraint while driving, they should be charged a higher insurance premium.
