Granny-Staters

AKA: Granite State Nanny-Staters

Meet New Hampshire State Representative Laura Pantelakos. She is proposing a bill to outlaw the use of cell phones while driving.

So, just how pressing a safety concern is this?

Read on.

Driving to and from the Statehouse in Concord two to three times a week, Pantelakos said, she sees 15 to 25 people a day with one hand on the wheel and the other holding a phone to their heads.

So, on her roughly 100-mile commute, she sees a couple dozen people talking on their phones?

Oh.

The humanity.

People are talking.

Having conversations with one another.

Now, if she were to witness that same number of people either driving off the road into the trees, or actually causing accidents involving other vehicles, as a result of behind-the-wheel cell phone use, she might have a point.

But all these folks were doing was talking.

And, apparently, that scares her.

But, here's the real danger, according to Ms. Pantelakos.

"I've been counting them," she said. "The other day, in the passing lane, I came up behind a woman who was going 85 mph with two little kids in the back seat and talking on her cell phone. She should never have put those children in that danger."

Seems to me the person putting those children in danger was the lead-footed state legislator, who was bearing down on a car full of kids, at speeds in excess of 85 mph.

Clearly, a common-sense ban on state legislators is called for here. You know, FOR THE CHILDREN^TM, and all.