Law goes into effect today, so I broke down and got a GPS—no, not that fucking KITT one (although come to think of it, Speed Racer might make for a nice theme, Trixie's voice for the turn-by-turn and a programmable 5-button layout)—mainly for the Bluetooth call management. The slightest indication that my sense of direction is suffering, or I just don't want to carry the damned thing around anymore, and I'm loading Taiwanese and giving it to 老婆's dad. But on the subject of driving distractions, the misunderstanding that they're illegal, much less dangerous, only if specifically mentioned in the statutes is perpetuated by FAQ's such as this:

Q: Does the new "hands-free" law allow you to use the speaker phone function of your wireless telephone while driving?
A: Yes.

I swear, the next guy I see thinking he's so clever by holding his flip-phone up to his face and staring into it as if he's making eye contact at a job interview, I'm gonna jeopardize my own safety, too, by starting a blog of BlackBerry photos of people like him on the road. Did I ever mention the slow fat woman I passed by one morning on the way to work, incredulously, with a paperback rested on the airbag of her minivan steering wheel?