Cell Phones While Driving Decreasing?

I don't think so.

The San Jose Mercury News has a story this morning on how hard it is to spot drivers texting while driving (Duh!). They go on to quote a study done that showed, after the cell phone law passed, the rate of drivers using cell phones went down considerably but then rose a bit:

The auto club checked 13,500 vehicles along seven roads in Orange County and found that 9.3 percent of those drivers were using handheld phones before the law went into effect last summer. That figure declined to 3.3 percent last July before rising to 3.9 percent this spring.

I guess it's time for me to do my own survey that I said I was going to do some time ago. It seemed to me cell phone use went down a little right after the law was passed but my non- scientific personal observations of late tell me that drivers are using cell phones as much or more than they were before the law passed.

I watched cars driving out in front of my house for a few minutes last week. I actually didn't count the exact number of cars because I wasn't planning on it, but I guessed later that maybe ten cars passed by. Of those ten or so cars, 3 drivers were definitely talking on their cell phones. That's 30%- much higher than the Orange County study showed.

Sure, that was just a quick observation for a short period of time and in no way scientific, but I'd say I see close to the same numbers as I'm driving around town. I need to actually do this right and count the cars and drivers using phones for an hour, or so. I'll try to do it this week. If you see me sitting in my front yard, clipboard in hand, that's what I'll be doing.

Another Bad Obama Nomination

Hey, I think I've been pretty cool regarding the Obama Administration, for the most part. Not that I've dealt with it much here. But, some more bad news from a libertarian perspective in his most recent nomination.

I've mentioned before one of my least favorite organizations is Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). So who does Obama nominate for head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration? Chuck Hurley, CEO of MADD, of course.

Radley Balko, over at The Agitator blog, tells us some background and a little of what we can expect from Hurley, if he ends up being accepted for the position.