Roadshow: Guess who honks at drivers talking on cellphones: DOT boss Ray LaHood!
Q Would it be appropriate to honk at a person who is clearly distracted by their cellphone while driving? I saw a person who was clearly texting while driving. He was continuously looking down at his phone as he drifted out of his lane and was going at least 5 mph below the speed limit. I thought about honking at him but decided not to as I didn't want to scare him too much and cause him to suddenly swerve and cause an even greater hazard.
Greg Esch
Santa Clara
A I honked at a young woman who was texting and creeping along Hedding Street when we arrived at a red light not too long ago. To put it mildly, she became enraged -- at me. She gave me the single-finger salute, was mouthing nasty words (thankfully our windows were up) and had the scary "I'm going to clobber you" glare of an NFL middle linebacker.
So I was going to say don't honk and cause a road-rage incident, but then I stumbled across this story from a Washington, D.C.-area radio station:
"I drive around on the weekends in Washington," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, and when he sees what he describes as "my biggest source of irritation" -- somebody on a cellphone, LaHood takes action: "What I've been doing is kind of honking at somebody if I see him on a cellphone."
LaHood says it's his way of "taking personal responsibility" to reduce driver distractions. Hey,
Q I was driving down Highway 85, and I wanted to move into the carpool lane. I look over and there is a guy in a small car staring at his cellphone or iPod or something like that. Either way he was totally distracted. He was changing speeds all over the place while getting very close to drifting out of his lane. The entire time I could see him he was on his phone. He was definitely not paying attention for at least a few miles.
What should I have done? Call 911 or 311 or something like that? This seems comparable to drunken driving. He was endangering his and everyone else's lives on the freeway that day.
Matt Katawicz
Continued here:
Roadshow: Guess who honks at drivers talking on cellphones: DOT boss Ray LaHood!