- Textually Inactive in Texas

The other day, driving home, I observed a pickup truck in front of me gradually veering to the right, with its tires beginning to get on the grass. There was no shoulder to the asphalt lane.

Finally, with the tires about 18" off the pavement, the driver righted (lefted?) his course, narrowly keeping from broadsiding a traffic sign. He was using a cellphone.


Did I mention this was in a school zone? (Actually it was after hours.)

While I don't do full abstinence from textual activity, I am so poor at it that I sure don't try it while driving.

I guess I remember replacing the front end clip on my '68 Chrysler Newport after smashing a parked Cutlass (don't worry, it was a late '70s model, not a classic or 442 model) while looking for something on the floorboard, just two blocks from our house. And about a year-and-a-half later, having to take my '71 Opel Manta to a body shop in Bridgeport (circa 1979) to have a new passenger side door skin installed after I flattened it on a speed limit sign (about three more blocks away) while looking for my watch in the console. Drugs or alcohol were not involved.

I did not smash this kind of Cutlass!

Today, I'm much more focused, but now we have GPS, XM, cellphones/texting, and DVD players in cars.

As Pete Seeger might say/sing: "When will they ever learn?"