Take this phone away before somebody gets hurt

    The first key to getting help is admitting you have a problem.
    So, last week’s’ recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board of an all-out ban on the use of mobile devices in cars is a really good place to start.
    I’m Kevin and I’m addicted to using my cell phone in my car.
    I talk on my cell phone in my car. I text. I check Facebook. I send out Tweets. I check emails. I send emails. I forward emails. I text people to let them I just forwarded an email about a Facebook status that I just posted.
    You know me. I’m the one who occasionally looks up from my game of Angry Birds to make sure there’s not a deer in the middle of the road.
    Yep, that’s me, out of
control.
    While the NTSB used a Missouri truck driver who’d sent about 11 text messages in a short time frame before he plowed into a school bus as its poster child, I’m the real problem.
    And you know why?
    Because, until last week, I didn’t realize I had a problem. And why would I?
    It’s my phone. It’s my car. My taxpayer dollars helped fund this road. So, how dare you tell me I can’t talk on my cell phone in my car on my road.
    And, honestly, I’m not anymore distracted than anybody else. What about that lady with the three kids in her car? Or that guy with the Guacamole Bacon MondoBurger (with extra cheese). Those people are way bigger threats than I am. I’m merely chiding someone for their leftist views on Facebook as I drift towards the center line. If you ask me, those liberals leading our country into a cesspool of socialism and political correctness are much more ominous than me.
    Oh yeah, I can reason with you all day long. I’m certainly not as dangerous as the out-of-towners who don’t know how to drive in snow, either. And, make no mistake, it doesn’t take a cell phone to make a distracted driver. I’m probably just as dangerous driving by a bikini carwash as I am sending out a text.
    But what caught me in the wake of last week’s predictable outrage over the NTSB’s recommendation was this belief that somehow we’re entitled to the right of using our cell phones in our vehicles.
    And further this belief that we are bred of this need for constant communication that prevents us from putting down our phone for a few minutes to focus on getting from point A to point B safely.
    And really the argument that we need ours phones in case there’s an emergency? I am the emergency. Me, driving down the highway 65 MPH, playing Words with Friends.
    I can’t recall the advent of the realization that maybe consuming alcohol and driving weren’t a good combination. Of course, that’s now an accepted fact. Even people who do drink and drive now generally know that they are making a mistake, hopefully sooner than later.
    But, I’m guessing it started the same way with a lot of people trying to reason away  the danger.
    I’m not blaming you. Like I said, I’m as guilty as the next person. But, now that we realize we have a problem, maybe it’s time to get help.