Perhaps as much as any time in recent memory, we are faced with divisions between groups of people. Rich versus poor. Rural versus urban. Black versus White. Christian versus Muslim. The list goes on. Nevertheless, many aspects of life, of individual people, transcend all those differences and more. A lot of those aspects are observable if you bother to see them. As charitable, hopeful, and open-minded as that may sound to you, that transcending is not always a good thing. Case in point: stupidity.

 

Most people probably presume they are relatively smart. Some of them are correct. Occasionally, though, some people do stupid things and thereafter chastise themselves. A man bets on a team that loses and then rips himself for ignoring steep odds he bet against. A woman curses herself and her throbbing head for having too many drinks last night. A teenager hates himself for misbehaving with a young lady the night before his long-time girlfriend dumps him for doing that. We all make mistakes but most of us believe those are occasional, fleeting, the exception to the rule and not our norm. Some of us shouldn’t believe that. If it is unfair or mean-spirited to say some people are stupid, it is at least objectively verifiable to say that many people show stupid.

 

There are many ways many of us show stupidity on a regular basis. “Stupid is as stupid does”, we once heard Tom Hanks say while playing the title character in Forrest Gump. I’m not immune to stupid but I try my best. For example, I consciously work at not driving while distracted. I wrote about that in my book on BS but I’m not the only one talking about this.

 

Media in Ontario recently reported that, according to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), distracted driving was the leading cause of traffic fatalities on the roads they patrol, for the third consecutive year and counting. Those roads include all major highways in Ontario and all roads in smaller centres and communities where they provide general policing. Excluding those roads the OPP doesn’t patrol, 69 people died in 2015 in collisions where distracted driving was a contributing factor. The roads they don’t patrol include every city road patrolled by municipal police agencies, cities like Ottawa, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Toronto and all the suburbs that surround those cities and share police services with them. That’s a big body count.

 

If that many deaths were attributed to shootings, an outcry would follow. Actually it does and rightfully so. Imagine if those shootings were predominantly committed by the victim’s themselves and not by suicide. That outcry would be deafening and again rightfully so. Yet a few mentions of this problem persist. Distracted driving causes people to die in numbers greater than impaired driving, speeding, non-use of seatbelts or other driving issues. Still, we hear about it and then we carry on. Many of us carry on with distracted driving. Many of us carry on showing stupid.

 

Of course, there are many actions that fall under distracted driving, such as grooming, eating, and smoking, all while operating a motor vehicle barreling down a road with other people doing the same thing. Yet most of us know the number one culprit among distractions. Ironically, smart phones are supposed to represent progress by making us more connected, more informed and, presumably, more smart. Apparently not.

 

This can’t be news to many people. Highways signs talk about it as do media reports, public service announcements by other means, and so on. Yet hundreds,  thousands, or hundreds of thousands of times daily (millions if you go beyond Ontario’s borders) people act as if they don’t know. These are the folks most of us see holding a phone to their head or holding it in front of their face while yapping away. Ironically, again, anyone with a phone that can be used hands-free could use it without, well, their hands.

 

It also appears evident that many people do know it’s unlawful. Many drivers who text do so while keeping their cell out of the sight of people outside their car; often in their lap or otherwise down low out of sight. This is evident by how frequently these drivers look down in the direction of their crotch, often every few seconds. Of course, I can’t prove that phenomenon is because of cell phones and texting. The other plausible explanation is that they are staring at their crotch and/or doing something with said crotch. Since that too would be distracted driving, I’ll hope for the texting explanation if only because that indicates stupid instead of stupid and creepy.

 

Studies indicate that, in particular, texting while driving can decrease reaction times by up to 35% while impaired driving can reduce reactions by 12%. This isn’t to say that it’s better to drive impaired than distracted, any more than it’s better to run with scissors than a cocked revolver. It is to say that if you yap on your cell while driving, and particularly if you text while driving, you are no safer to yourself and other motorists than someone who is pissed to the gills.

 

Naturally, no one who does this particularly stupid act believes it will cause them to have a collision, let alone die or cause someone else to die. Yet every year for several years now, that happens. I suspect that few people would say their safe arrival is less important than a quick and often meaningless chat with whomever, yet their actions say precisely that. I also suspect that few would suggest they are so much better at driving than the rest of us, and that the laws aren’t meant for them, yet their actions suggest precisely that too.

 

I spoke to a police officer a few weeks back about the kinds of excuses he hears when he stops cell-yielding drivers. These are but a sample of the reactions he’s heard:

 

“It’s a business call.”

 

“I’m on my way home.”

 

“Someone call me.”

 

“Excuse me. (insert indignation here) I’m speaking to my mother.”

Here’s where the transcending of barriers comes in. That officer told me the four sample excuses came from a diverse group in terms of gender, age, and apparent race. My own observations also show diversity in that particular stupidity. I see cell use in fancy cars and junkers, by people of both genders and all racial groups I can imagine, by almost all ages although to a lesser extent among apparently elderly drivers, on high-speed highways and neighbourhood side streets. As with so many topics I discuss and opinions I have expressed, I invite you to challenge those; see for yourself and let me know if your observations prove me wrong. If nothing else, that will encourage you to keep your eyes up and on the road, if you don’t always do that now.

 

There are so many good ways we could break down barriers, way that aren’t stupid. Hopefully, you’re one of the smart ones, or at least you consciously think about this and decide to be one of the smart ones. Smart, especially through conscious thought, can also transcend barriers of all kinds.

 

So, if you believe you are immune to the effects of distraction; immune to the rule of law and why that law was created; crash-proof; or that need for your mommy-chats trump neurology, physics, traffic laws, and common sense; stop it. Join the legions from every identifiable group who stopped it or never did it in the first place.

 

If you don’t already, get a hands-free option if you must. Call home as you walk to the car instead of only once you start driving it. Get a life and stop risking yours for stupid reasons. Stop risking mine for stupid reasons too.

 

If you’re on the smart side of this issue already, thank you. You might need to start getting as pissed off at this issue as I get if you want to see it change, and no matter what group(s) you may identify with. How’s that for bridging barriers?