Text Not While Ye Drive (In Five States, for Now)

You can add another state to the pile of those that forbid texting and driving. This time, it's Alaska--home of moose hunters and Mustang lovers, and that's just their Rachel-sporting governor Sarah Palin.

Starting on Monday, Alaska joined a smaller, less perfect union of five states that don't allow you to do what the idiot in this photo is doing. Other states in the clique include Minnesota, New Jersey, Washington, and our favorite, Louisiana, where it's ironically still legal to drive up to a bar at 7 a.m. and expect Purple Voodoo on tap.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) wanted you to know all this--plus, the fact that handheld cell phones are not allowed when driving in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Washington, and the District of Columbia. From those top-tier edicts, the use of phones becomes a hodgepodge of local rules and laws that would all be rendered moot if we just had a constitutional amendment banning any kind of driver distraction, including singing, DVD watching, and microwaving your coffee back to life.

Think that would get play during this election season? Tell us how long it's been since you were last texting and driving in a comment below--and let us know your favorite technique for avoiding getting caught. text message while drivingEnlarge PhotoYou can add another state to the pile of those that forbid texting and driving. This time, it's Alaska--home of moose hunters and Mustang lovers, and that's just their Rachel-sporting governor Sarah Palin. Starting on Monday, Alaska joined a smaller, less perfect union of five states that don't allow you to do what the idiot in this photo is doing. Other states in the clique include Minnesota, New Jersey, Washington, and our favorite, Louisiana, where it's ironically still legal to drive up to a bar at 7 a.m. and expect Purple Voodoo on tap. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) wanted you to know all this--plus, the fact that handheld cell phones are not allowed when driving in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Washington, and the District of Columbia. From those top-tier edicts, the use of phones becomes a hodgepodge of local rules and laws that would all be rendered moot if we just had a constitutional amendment banning any kind of driver distraction, including singing, DVD watching, and microwaving your coffee back to life. Think that would get play during this election season? Tell us how long it's been since you were last texting and driving in a comment below--and let us know your favorite technique for avoiding getting caught.