From Cell To Jail Cell If You Drive And Jive T his is a true story. You couldn’t make it up. On a typical Monday morning, around 8:30 a.m., on my way to pick-up a Plain Dealer newspaper at my local Speedway gas station, I was surprised to see two cars exiting the gas station as I was trying to enter. Both drivers were manipulating the steering wheels with their elbows as they cradled cell phones in one hand and large super-sized hot coffees in the other. It was obvious that the drivers were oblivious to everything except their phone conversations. When they pulled out of the gas station against traffic, they not only blocked my entry but everyone else’s movement. In a manner of seconds, the entire intersection of Green and Cedar roads was in a total gridlock. No cars could move in any direction. The clueless drivers never did stop talking or texting on their cellphones, neither did they seem to notice the angry horn blowing and mid- dle-finger waving directed toward them. Luckily, no deaths, loss of limbs or costly car damages occurred. This incident of texting and driving could have been a lot worse and often is. These two drivers should have had the book thrown at them for inconsiderate and dangerous driving. Now, because of them and thousands of other drivers that continue to talk and text while using some type of hand-held electronic device, laws are changing for all our safety. We are accountable for our actions and have to follow these laws, or pay a steep price. Beachwood has been a leader in a growing list of cities—including Pepper Pike, University Heights, South Euclid, North Royalton, Brooklyn and now Shaker Heights—with cell phone bans. Shaker Heights has added additional bite to their cell ban. Not only will they fine habitual offenders up to $1,000 and add two points to their driving records, but there is also jail time of up to six months. The maximum penalties are reserved for the most extreme circumstances, such as loss of life and major property damages. While most people consider jail time too stringent a punishment for a crime of texting or talking while driving, remember that not too long ago, nobody wanted to wear a seat belt. Today we know that the enforcement of the seat belt law has saved countless lives and I’m sure we will one day be able to say the same thing about cell-phone-ban laws. If you currently drive and chat or drive and text, or both, with one hand or no hands on the wheel, it’s time to re-learn the skill of driving with both hands on the wheel. Remember when you were a kid, driving your first pedal car and your parents made you put both hands on the wheel? Then, you graduated to learning how to ride a bike with both hands on the handle bars. And then it was on to driver’s education classes where you were taught to keep both hands on the wheel at all times if you wanted to get a driver’s license. Now, we are asking you to return to those good old days of two hands on the wheel and no cell phone in your hands. Also, if you are reading this article, you’re probably old enough to remember when we all had landline phones in our homes and offices. We used the phone before we left home or when we got to the office or found an operable phone booth with a phone that hadn’t been vandalized. Without cell phones in our cars, our only major driving distractions were changing radio stations, inserting CDs or 8-Tracks, animated talking to other passengers in the car or constantly turning around in the driver’s seat to discipline kids in the back seat. Today, it’s almost impossible to pass a moving car that doesn’t have a driver who is actively engaged in texting or talking on a cell phone while driving. Recently, View From The Curb took several visual surveys of drivers in moving cars who were actively engaged in using some type of hand-held electronic device while driving in either direction between Beachwood and Shaker Heights. Each group consisted of 100 cars. In the first group observed,17% of drivers were using a hand-held device, and one lady was holding a large, white drink cup in her right hand while driving with her left, which is also dangerous. The second group, observed driving eastward on Shaker Boulevard from Shaker Heights into Beachwood, during lunchtime, showed 21% using cell phones. And, as you might imagine, there were at least a dozen drivers actively eating their lunch while driving, also a hazard. During another visual safari on Green Road, between Shaker Blvd. east and west, 15% were using hand-held devices. Lastly, we were interested in learning if these numbers would decrease when driving on Richmond Road past Beachwood City Hall, the police station and the fire station. Guess what? Getting caught didn’t seem to faze the hardcore cell users one bit. Of 100 drivers observed, 17%, were chatting away. So, our mini-research visual survey uncovered that of a random sample of 400 moving drivers, cruising through Beachwood at different times of the day, over a three-day period, produced 70 drivers’ breaking the cell-phoneban law in Beachwood. This is just not acceptable! This continuing use of cell phones while driving is a serious legal, social and financial crisis that affects us all. We need everyone’s help in the Beachwood community to be part of the solution, not the problem. And, here’s one more thing. The next time you reach over to grab your cell phone while driving, remember this slogan: “FROM CELL TO JAIL CELL IF YOU DRIVE AND JIVE.” PLEASE NOTE: 28 Beachwood Buzz n August 2014 Our Mailing Address Has Changed! Beachwood Buzz P.O. Box 22194 Beachwood, Ohio 44122