This newspaper has not shied away from admonishing those in the motoring public to hang up and drive.
In our first year, we suggested that signs saying as much be posted along the roadsides at the entrances to downtown Carrboro. Having now worked three-and a-half years on Weaver Street and conducted most of my travel during business hours on foot, I am unhappy to report that the habit of talking on the phone while driving, and the inattentiveness that accompanies it, remains rampant.
I am not sure whether bad drivers are bad because of cell phones or bad drivers are more inclined to adopt such practices. Doesn’t matter; people have been and are going to get hurt.
I say this as a longtime observer of the interplay of car and man in downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro. During the years I worked at a copy shop with big windows and a full view of the intersection of Columbia and Franklin streets, the crew and I witnessed dozens of incidents. Most were either due to aggression or lack of attention. This was at the dawn of the cell phone age – long before we had turned ourselves into the most tuned-out people to ever walk the earth.
Just from personal observation, I’d say at least half of Carrboro’s crosswalk problems are due to drivers on the phone.
It’s not just limited to the motorists of course. In the regions near campus, it is sometimes difficult to find a human being not on the phone. And, I’m sorry, I really don’t get biking on an urban street with one hand to your ear.
Lately I’ve been commiserating with various public officials over this issue. Aside from the rather daunting legal hurdles to ban or limit the use of a federally regulated communication system, there’s the logistical challenge of enforcement.
Cracking down may be a part of the solution, but it’s not going to change this vice that has become habit. Resources are scarce and the culture is working against the idea of less time on the mobiles.
Chapel Hill may someday be able to adopt a regulation on cell phone use, and Carrboro could find success in improving crosswalk safety, but the odds of another fatal meeting between a pedestrian on the phone and a driver likewise occupied just keeps increasing.
So, as I said a couple of years ago, while the wheels of justice are turning, why not a parallel effort to address the behavior? What’s wrong with a few signs scattered about the downtown areas suggesting that it is unsafe, unwise and, well, uncool to drive while chatting?
I’ve always liked “Hang up and Drive†as a slogan, but I’ve been told it sounds too harsh and not friendly enough. So how about this one: “Tell a Friend to Hang Up and Drive.â€