Dial 911 to Report Drunk Drivers

We've all seen them: Those electronic displays that read, "Dial 911 to Report Drunk Drivers," which appear to be located on all of the Southern California freeways. It seems like you can't go 10 minutes without encountering one.Now this doesn't sound like a bad idea because drunk driving is wrong. It puts innocent lives at risk, so anything to counter that seems like a great idea, right?

But aren't we putting our own lives at risk by using our cell phones while driving? Is the "Dial 911 to Report Drunk Drivers" campaign promoting cell phone use in cars? It may be for a good purpose, but still, it's not the greatest thing in the world to be driving and talking on the phone at the same time. After all, 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries per year in the United States were caused by cell-phone usage according to a 2002 study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. And that number has likely increased because there are more cell phones and cars on the road now than in 2002.

The big question is, will these electronic displays continue to populate our freeways after non-hands-free mobile-use while driving is banned effective July 1? It's ridiculous to think that only those with a hands-free mobile device are able to make such calls. And if an exception is made, that would contradict the law banning cell phones.

The other big question is, how do you know if a driver is drunk or not? Sure, you can see the tell-tale signs of swerving, erratic braking and acceleration. But what if something else distracted the driver for a split second? It could be something innocent such as the driver's dad patting him or her on the shoulder after a big promotion.

Your mistaken judgment could easily ruin their happy spirits. If pulled over, they are in a messy situation with the cops where they may have to prove their innocence by embarrassing methods, such as a sobriety test or a breathalyzer. It sounds far fetched and even ridiculous, sure, but what I'm saying is that you don't really know who is drunk and who is not.

There is an easy solution to all this, though, replacing all those electronic displays dealing with drunk drivers with more traffic-related messages like showing the amount of time or distance it takes to get to a particular destination, or warning of an upcoming traffic jam.

During the daytime in everyday life, traffic is a bigger issue than drunk drivers. So electronic displays showing you the time it takes to get from place to another, which is especially important with Californians who are always on the go, just makes a whole lot more sense.