hang up or pay up

Starting July 1, drivers in California and Washington state will be prohibited from using hand-held mobile phones while driving. Drivers must use headsets, speakers or other devices to keep their hands free. When these laws go into effect, the roads will be safer because drivers won't be distracted by the complex motor skills required to hold a phone against one's face.

Or not. So what if my hands are free? Free for what? Better to grasp and jam that burger into my face? To apply mascara? To gesture to other drivers? Besides, most times when I've been distracted by conversation while driving, the person distracting me has been inside the car (usually backseat driving the hell out of me).

People talk on the phone and paint their nails and read New York Times while driving because, for the most part, driving on smooth roads with others who follow traffic laws does not seem to require a whole lot of concentration. If the legislature really wants drivers to focus, the better plan would be to create unpredictable road conditions that make absent-minded driving a more obvious hazard. Dig some potholes. Eliminate lane markers. Randomly release goats and other farm animals into traffic.

This plan works beautifully in Uganda. Sure, people still talk on their mobile phones in Uganda, but they tend to focus on the road and carry on absent-minded conversations. And sure, driving conditions there exemplify vehicular chaos, but that motivates people to use public transport. It's a win-win situation.