Don't bother me... I'm on the phone!

For those of you who read my blogs you will realize that this one is very different from my normal discussions on faith, society or American ideals. The reason for this blog is that just last week I nearly lost my life TWICE while driving home from work.  Both incidents had at their very heart one main issue: cell phone usage.

The first issue occurred on a stretch of road where 2 lanes merge into a single lane (for about a 1/4 mile and then magically they split back into 2).   I was in the right lane which was disappearing but I had ample room between the 2 cars in the left hand lane to merge.   When I decided to merge I saw that that car in the rear had sped up and now was almost side-by-side with me.  I sped up to claim my slot only to have the car speed up also.  Realizing I was running out of road I either had to slam on my brakes or force my way in.  At the last moment the car behind slowed down and let me in.  During all of this, I was under the impression that I was the victim of a a--hole driver who "just hast to be in front" , but when I merged I looked back and to my astonishment it was a teenage girl holding up to there face her phone.  Her face was one of astonishment and she quickly put down her phone and looked for a turn off to get away from me (I think she could see from my back window that I was not very pleased with her driving and was YELLING at her).   I was so angry from this near accident that I had to pull off the road into a parking lot just to give my nerves time to calm down.

The second occurrence came just a couple of days afterward.   I was on my way home from work again and was only about 3 miles from my destination.   I came to a simple 4-way-stop with no one else waiting.   I came to a stop and saw a car coming from the left.  I assumed they would stop (silly me) and was about to go, when I suddenly had to apply my brakes.   The girl driving the car was talking on her cell phone and had passed right through the intersection as if I wasn't even there.  I should have chased her down and yelled at her too but opted for slamming on my horn to wake her up from the cell-phone-induced-slumber.

I have come to the belief that these people should be required to have large yellow signs placed on the tops of their cars (similar to taxis and driving-schools) alerting the rest of us that the driver of the vehicle has more important activities other than driving and might be distracted.

This leads me to my next issue.  Is driving not important to us?   I work as a computer engineer, and recently I heard that technology is targeting the automobile as the next place to grow.   In the near future cars will allow us to get more information  from the internet than ever before.   This scares the living crap out of me and it sounds like another session of REALLY! (from Saturday Night Live) is in order here...

You want the driver of the car to be able to order Sushi while is driving 70 mph on the freeway? REALLY?!

You think that allowing him to see that latest viral You-Tube video while cars around him are trying to merge onto the free-way is a good thing? REALLY?! 

You want him answering his emails with his brother in Boston who is wondering when they are going to come out for vacation?    REALLY?! 

You want him to be updating his Facebook status with "Driving home from work now..." (when in fact in a few seconds it should read "DECEASED" because that is what he is going to be because he doesn't see that he just crossed the yellow line and is about to come up close with a semi-truck. REALLY?!

You want him watching HULU when he's driving through a road work area with orange cones lining the road and guy standing with a sign saying "STOP" is trying to wave him down?  REALLY?!

We, who develop technology, need to start looking at the moral ramifications of what we develop.  Does this make sense?  Will this cause more people to get hurt or die?   Just because we can doesn't mean we should.

I know all the counter-arguments that go along with this.  The biggest being "Well if we don't design it someone else will and they will make all the money".

I have one word for this:  "Degesch".

Who is Degesch?   They were the chemical company in Germany responsible for the large-scale production of Zyklon B (or cyanide gas) used by Hitler to kill 6 million Jews.    Imagine, the leader of your country who has documented his hatred of the Jewish people (and other "undesirables") has needs of large quantities of poisonous gas.   Did Germany have a rat infestation?  No!   So what other use could there be?   It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out and yet onto the road to hell they went.   Were they saying the same thing?   Oh well, some chemical company is bound to do his dirty work... might as well as be us so we can make money at it!     I know the use of Nazi Germany is over used too.   But I believe in this instance it does help make a point about our decisions as engineers and marketing workers.   Money should not always be the reason for doing what we do!