Major feature in NY Times this morning on one of my favorite topics — the indisputable danger of using phones, Blackberries, etc. while driving. Yakking drivers have an unrealistic idea of their ability to multi-task. Legislators, many of them yakkers, too, don’t want to do anything about it.

Some day, we’ll join the civilized world in limiting the practice. Just as, someday, we’ll have universal health insurance like the rest of the developed world. Outlawing the practice won’t be enough, of course.

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Some researchers say that sufficient evidence exists to justify laws outlawing cellphone use for drivers — and they suggest using technology to enforce them by disabling a driver’s phone. “Just outlawing the behavior cannot possibly go very far toward getting people not to do it,” said Robert D. Foss, senior research scientist at the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina. “The behavior is too ingrained and compelling.”

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