A description of my blog. http://www.my-site.com 5945701328797086042 Don't Try This When Not at Home 2006/11/#5945701328797086042 2006-11-09 The other day as I was driving to work I happened to look over at the guy driving in the lane next to me and noticed that he was reading a magazine. Not checking a map, not glancing at an ad for male enhancement products, actually reading a magazine while he was driving. He had it it propped up on his steering wheel as if the manufacturer had intended it to be used as a handy reading stand. It makes you wonder why they don't put a little clip on the top of the steering wheel for holding your reading material, and maybe a little lamp in case it gets too dark to see clearly. I guess carmakers figure there's enough interesting stuff going on in the windshield and mirrors to keep your attention. It must take a serious case of ADD to be so bored with the imminent possibility of a ten car pile-up that you have to spice things up by perusing a magazine while hurtling down I-5. I hope it was Dismemberment and Disfigurement Monthly, because otherwise he's going to have some catching up to do when he gets out of the coma.

Despite the fact that everybody knows how stupid it is to drink and drive or to grab a downed power line with your bare hands, they still have public service announcements telling you not to do those things. Yet there are no PSAs warning against reading and driving. This prompts the question: How reckless and dangerous does something have to be for no one to have even thought of warning you not to do it? Congratulations, Bob, you've just vaulted into a completely new demographic of stupidity! It never even occurred to us to warn people not to do that. We'll add it to the list of future PSAs, right under "Don't stick Legos up your nose" and "Don't throw rocks at mountain lions."

I've even heard of people getting ticketed for watching TV while driving. I bet this happens more than you might think. And given all the niche cable networks that exist today, I imagine that the TV-watching driver demographic is probably large enough to support their own network. The Driver Network would be a big hit. They could play The Cannonball Run, Knight Rider, and all the latest police chases. And every once in a while they'd break in with a public service announcement that says, "Watch the road, you idiot!"

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