Don't Let It Go

The National Transportation Safety Board today said it “recommends” that states outlaw all non-emergency phone calls and texts by all operators of vehicles on the road.

We know how this goes. First it’s just a “recommendation.” Next, it becomes a string attached to federal funding that the states can’t afford to do without. Or maybe Congress — or perhaps even a regulatory agency without even a peep from Congress — goes ahead and promulgates the ban under the pretense that calling while driving and texting “affects” interstate commerce. After all, if your refraining from purchasing health insurance affects interstate commerce (as many smart appeals court judges apparently believe), then surely phoning and texting while driving does.

In a proper society we’d have private roads, with the owners of those roads deciding what rules to impose. And we’d have insurance company policies and tort liability rules geared to punish those whose calling and texting behavior caused accidents. Instead, today we have the increasingly interventionist nanny state giving us a “one size fits all” approach.

Thoughts?