Do we really need legislators spending time drafting, editing, debating, and finally passing laws that make it an offense to text when crossing the street? Or just walking? I mean, come on, the woman in Reading, Pennsylvania, who was texting while walking through a mall and fell into a fountain should be held up as an example of stupidity, not that texting and walking is dangerous and needs to be regulated by the government.

I’ve always believed that if a person and an automobile get into a fight, the auto is going to win. Therefore, I make it a habit to not engage in combat with large hunks of moving iron. With the exception of isolated incidents, vehicles for the most part stay on streets, roads, and driveways. It is not too difficult to walk around and avoid getting in their path and being hit. When I was young, we all learned to look both ways before crossing the street. If a car was coming, you stayed on the sidewalk until it stopped, and then you crossed. Seemed like a pretty useful rule, and it’s served me well my entire life. Not once have I been struck by a moving vehicle. But now I read about lawmakers proposing restrictions on using cell phones and music players by people walking or running along the street or sidewalk.

Do we really need to regulate common sense? Should our legislators be responsible for things that should be personal responsibility? Or would it be police officers that become responsible for what we should be responsible for ourselves, because they would be the ones enforcing such laws when passed.

It’s bad enough that laws are being passed prohibiting texting while driving. Not that I am for people texting while they are behind the wheel of that huge hunk of iron that has the capability of killing innocent people who unfortunately cross the path of those irresponsible idiots who don’t pay attention to driving because of some buzz in their pocket or some message that just has to be sent immediately. Again, it is common sense and personal responsibility that should keep people from texting and driving, not the fear of receiving a ticket.

But then, people should be responsible enough to not get behind the wheel impaired too, but statistics prove that responsibility is lacking in many of those who are driving around, and not just at 2:00 a.m. Of course, it makes more sense to regulate driving, since the driver is in a position to kill innocent people. But I guess some could argue that a pedestrian, blinding walking into traffic with their head in their text, could also cause accidents that could injure or kill people besides themselves. So should it be regulated? I really don’t know, but I do think it is a sad state of affairs that it even needs to be discussed.