Maybe hefty cellphone fines would work

A nationally syndicated newspaper columnist was involved in a rear-end collision with a cell phone-wielding driver this October. If this annoyed the columnist (and you assume it did), she concealed it well in a subsequent article.

Here with the help of an AAA travel official she calmly made an undeniable point: driving and phoning don't mix. About as impassioned as she got was to wonder aloud whether it took an accident for cell-phoning motorists to accept this.

I admire her restraint. But having a close friend who's been victimized in three such mishaps over the last five years, I'd shade my related questions more forcefully. What is it that cellphone users can't wait an hour or less to process, while en route to the job or the store?

What's worth risking an increase in one's car insurance rates? And what's worth endangering the public and breaking the law?

You only have to stand alongside a busy thoroughfare today to appreciate that many motorists gamble with your interests at stake as well as their own.

OK, one proper response would seem to be to conclude that the laws against cell phoning while driving aren't stiff enough. So make the penalties stronger in the form of steep fines.

All levels of government are looking to raise revenue and since we've pretty much topped out on tobacco and alcohol sales taxes, why not call on the cellphone drivers? Tom Gregg

Niles