Assimilated
I refused to do it. Even though it was almost fashionable. Still I resisted. I did not want to become one of them.
But as of July 1st, I could resist no longer. I was forced to surrender. I had to assimilate. I had to get... earbuds.
As of yesterday in Washington State the use of a hands-free device such as a bluetooth headset or wired headset became required for using a cell phone while driving.
I actually think it's a good idea. It probably doesn't really solve the real issue though - which is that people are more dangerous when using cell phones not because they don't have both hands on the wheel, but because they are distracted by the dialing, answering, talking and listening they are doing. If it was simply a matter of not having both hands on the wheel, then the same prohibition should be applied to the consumption of food or beverage while driving, or changing the radio station while driving, or inserting a CD while driving, or flipping off the idiot who just cut in front of you while driving, and to the best of my knowledge it is not even a secondary offense to be doing any of those things and driving at the same time.
At any rate, a hands-free device for cell phone communications while driving is now a requirement here, even though it is a secondary enforcement law. Meaning you only get a ticket for this if you are pulled over for a regular traffic violation. And the violation will not go on your driving record or be reported to insurance.
And so I'm not sure entirely whether it's going to have any significant impact on the problems they are trying to solve with the introduction of this law. I expect people to be just as oblivious to their surroundings while gabbing on a hands-free device as they are when they're talking with a phone held to their ear. They're not going to pay any more attention to the road. They're still going to change lanes without signaling and cut me off, or brake abruptly while I'm behind them, or not brake fast enough when they are behind me.
So yesterday, just to ensure I was in legal compliance on the off chance I had to answer the phone while in the car (there's a whole other story here about me and my answering & lack of answering of my cell phone; I will post it here when emotions around the topic have subsided in this household), I went out and purchased my first blue tooth headset.
So... as far as blue tooth headsets go, it's small, lightweight, comfortable and the receiver and microphone are high quality. It was easy to set up with my iPhone. There's really nothing to complain about.
Except the fact that I look like one of the Borg when I have it on. And that the people that wear one regularly and use it exclusively for all of their voice communications are among the most dorky and annoying on the planet.
You know what I'm talking about. They're the people at work or in the grocery store who are walking towards you with a smile on their face as though they know you, and as they pass you they look you in the eye and open their mouth as if to greet you and as you're getting ready to smile back on the off chance it is actually someone you know but just can't place and you don't want to be rude, they walk right past you saying something like "Oh my GOD that's HILARIOUS! Did she really say that? Holy crap; she's got a lot of nerve" and then you realize that she wasn't smiling at you, and she wasn't talking to you, she was smiling and talking to some equally shallow, gossipy, loser in some completely different location via her humandroid ear piece and now you're standing there with a dorky grin on your face for no reason, and you feel like an idiot.
Or they're the people at the mall walking next to you but alone, carrying on a much too LOUD conversation seemingly with themselves about completely inappropriate topics in way too much detail that makes you blush from head to toe as you pray that 1) no one else thinks they are with you and B) that they will shut up and turn left at the food court intersection as you scurry over to Macy's and try to lose them in the Frango display.
I just don't want to be one of THEM. I think the ear pieces make people look stupid and become rude. Ruder, anyway. Most people in my experience are already rude. (Remind me to post my observations and general philosophy on please & thank you etiquette in America while ordering food or beverage over a counter).
So I have to have this thing but I only have to use it while driving. And so in the car on my dash it sits. I put it on when I am driving and at a time of day when I'm more likely to receive a phone call that I have to answer, and stash it the rest of the time. That is my compromise.
I have been assimilated, but only in part. I retain my oneness, unbeknownst to the powers that be; the enforcers.
Comments
Don't get me started on the types in Virginia I always saw with one of those things jammed in their ears. In the Sarahverse, there are very few people in this world who are important enough to have to be contactable 24-7. If you're behind on your trailer payments, you're likely not one of them. But I digress.
Posted by Aunt Sarah on July 3, 2008 11:15 AM.I wonder how many people will still think it's okay to txt msg while driving, since they're not technically *talking* on their phone while driving. People who do that need to have their licences revoked.
Texting while driving was made a secondary offense in Washington State as of January 1st 2008, I believe. I doubt it has really changed anyone's behaviour though.
Posted by heather on July 3, 2008 12:16 PM.