My daughter was hit by a car yesterday just as she was getting off the school bus.  May you never get a phone call like that at your house.

She is fine, thank God, but  I hope you will hear three things that this Mom has to say today:

(1) Drivers must yield (which means STOP!) when a school bus is also stopped.

(2) Children need to be very careful when they exit a school bus, even if the bus has employed its stop signs and flashing lights.  It’s important to keep re-enforcing these 1^st grade rules, because even an 8^th grader will be distracted by a bus driver’s frantically honking his horn at an oncoming driver.

(3) The degree of impairment caused by talking on a cell phone while driving, (even when using headsets) has been proven in several major studies to be the same as driving drunk.  Driving with cell phones is not yet illegal in our city as it is in more and more others, but we don’t need to wait for a law. It is VERY IMPORTANT to limit this very popular distraction. 

Thank you very much for listening. 

- Almostgotit

Click image at left to see video.  Worth it, I promise.

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I was waiting for my son today in a small, crowded waiting room. 

Several people’s cell phones went off while I was there, team fight songs and choruses of The Who playing loudly for the rest of us to enjoy.

GOOD!! OLE!!! ROCKY TOP!! sang an orange purse,  as an older woman in an embroidered denim outfit fumbled to answer it.

The man who kept forgetting his paperwork at the window spoke softly into his RAZR about the weather and his love for the caller.  His beloved, however, had such a resonant bass voice that I’m sure he sings opera.

The lady in the denim outfit worked out some details for a dinner party before hanging up.

Finally, just as I was settling into the latest news about Brangelina, a blonde woman in a bright pink sweater answered her phone. 

“HELLO?  YES?  YES, I LEFT HIM A MESSAGE!  HA HA HA!” 

I pointedly put down my magazine and glared at her, but she didn’t notice. 

“WHAT?   I LEFT HIM A MESSAGE.  HA HA HA!!   ARE YOU A SCORPIO? 

Yes, as it happens, I *am* a Scorpio.

“I’ll TALK TO HIM.  I LEFT HIM A MESSAGE.  I KNOW!!! HA HA HA!”

The scorpion  leaned forward.  “Excuse me.  Could you please take that into the hall?” 

She glared at me. ”“Are you going to come and GET me if they call my name?”  

“No,” I said, suddenly abashed that an insensitive person would actually continue to be insensitive.   “Maybe, um, you should call them back later?” 

My face felt hot.  Clearly she wasn’t going to budge.  Everyone else in the waiting room was pointedly looking at their own magazines and feet.  My last chance.  “It’s just… really loud.” 

How lame. 

But who did I think I was, Captain Kirk?  Capable of changing an entire civilization with a single speech?   The woman continued her conversation just long enough afterwards to make the point that I didn’t have one.  A point, I mean.

However, when her phone rang again a few minutes later, she quietly turned it off, pointedly looking at her own magazine.