Poop Shute

"We Can't Legislate Common Sense"

Allow me to shed some light on context for this nugget of wisdom.

In the class we watched several videos. One of which was a Dateline special report about driving while distracted. They ran some fairly interesting experiments where they had test subjects performing simple, but distracting tasks while driving on a controlled test course. They had them do things that we all have either done or seen people do while driving. Eating, talking on the cell phone, putting on make-up, etc.

Turns out every single one of the test subjects had serious issues maintaining a constant speed, staying in the lane lines and most of them even managed to hit an obstacle or two. The long and short of the findings were our reaction time and focus suffer greatly when our attention is divided. Makes sense to me. It's one of those results that makes you say "duh."

Statistics have shown that drivers that are distracting themselves with these sorts of tasks while driving are just as dangerous as intoxicated drivers, and maybe even more so simply because there are more of them, and it is (as of right now) both legal and socially acceptable. Cell phone use has climbed the charts to be the number one most common cause of car crashes in The U.S.

Some states are passing a "Hands-Free Pullover Law." This means that if a cop sees you drive past using a cell phone with your hand, then he can pull you over and give you stiff fine. Hands-free sets are still okay.

In the video a lobbyist who represents the cell phone companies was responding to these new laws when he uttered the quote that I mentioned yesterday. "We can't legislate common sense."

I heard him say that, and it echoed through my mind over and over again. Really? I thought to myself. We can't? But isn't that exactly what most legislation is; common sense?

Example: The majority of us would agree that it is common sense that I shouldn't pull out a butcher knife and stab Ed in the chest. I checked with Ed, he agrees. That is definitely common sense. So why did we legislate that? Why is there a law against that? Could it have anything to do with the fact that people do tend to stab each other anyway, from time to time?

It's also common sense to not rob a bank, but people still do that anyway. So, there was legislation put into place to introduce a series of penalties for those parties who choose to disagree with common sense. Right?

Could it be that most legislation is just a codified version of common sense? Most laws were put in place by either a majority or an official elected by a majority. And if the majority of us COMMONly agree that something makes SENSE, what do you call that if not common sense?

Hell, I myself know that it's not smart to talk on my cell while I'm driving. I try to avoid doing it, but sometimes I violate common sense, and do it anyway. AH-HA! Common sense doesn't always prevail, does it? And that is why we not only can legislate common sense, but we should, and we usually have to, as in the above examples of stabbing and bank-robbing.

COMMENTS:

I agree--for the laws that make sense anyway. I still want to know why I can't spit on the sidewalk in AZ or use a "personal massager" in GA.
Crohn 01.05.07 - 8:13 pm

From the ever quotable Voltaire
"Common sense is not so common."
Brian Y. 01.06.07 - 11:33 am

Yeah, that is why I was careful to use the words "most laws" because some are just plain silly.
Joey 01.06.07 - 4:59 pm

some people might want to stab ed in the chest. i mean, if they have a good reason. and pretty much everyone hates ed as soon as they meet him, so i would be a lot of people want to stab ed in the chest. and they might even have good reason. who are we to stop the masses from their desires? also, isn't it common sense to want to punch george w. in the face? i have discussed this point with ed, and he agrees. but, it's illegal. we are also legislating against common sense here.
Mollie 01.07.07 - 6:59 pm