PSA- Hang Up and Drive!

I dedicate this entry to my good friend Sarah Wilson (pse) of Bethesda, Md., who never can seem to put down the cell phone while she is driving.

But, people like Sarah are causing problems. And, in North Carolina, my current state of residence, the matter has been become a major civic issue as it has around the country (and presumably the world!).

The Raleigh-based newspaper "The News-Observer" featured a story about motorists who use cell phones while driving and how four out of five North Carolina residents were tired of their nonsense.

Recently, I dealt with this as I was driving in southern Virginia, near the NASCAR hamlet of Martinsville. If memory serves me right, the motorist was in his late twenties, but apparently all age groups are guilty of this crime which is (alas) not actually breaking the law.

Hannah Gathings of Raleigh told "The News-Observer" that people drive erractically while using their cell phones: "They slow down. They speed up. They're not concentrating while driving."

Doris Fields of Siler City, NC, told the same newspaper that she simply puts her cell phone in her pocketbook to avoid the dangerous temptation.

"Psychology Today" added that drivers who use cellphones while driving are slower to hit their brakes and more likely to miss exits. And, they sure aren't going to be paying any attention to what's being said on "Car Talk!"

And, if this wasn't enough, Oprah Winfrey dedicated a whole show to the topic in April........so, there you go!

PSA- Save NPR

Since we posted a "Save PBS" entry for our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" just now, we figured that we'd post one here to "Save NPR."

And, to illustrate irony we will devote this entry to one of the VERY few NPR shows I don't listen to very much at all (along with "Prarie Home Companion").

This is not so much because I have anything against the popular NPR show "Car Talk" or the host Tom and Ray Magliozzi, also known as "Click and Clack," (pictured here) but I am really not much of a car person at all---even though I'm a heterosexual male who is 40 years old!

According to the "Car Talk" web site, the show will air a tribute to the late puzzle master Martin Gardner (I have no idea who he was). "Car Talk" first aired on WBUR out of Boston in 1977. It was picked up nationally by NPR in 1987. The show now boasts more than two million listeners and apparently you can even hear it on the radio in some places overseas, but we are not sure if there are any NPR stations in Turkmenistan (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).