LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / October 21, 2000

Lawmakers across the country are slowly catching up with today’s and tomorrow’s technology, as laws are being passed prohibiting cellular phone use in moving vehicles. However, in my opinion, the laws don’t go far enough.Yes, I have a cell phone and, yes, I have been guilty of using it to make calls while driving. I’m genuinely trying to cut back. Really I am.However, a CNN report this week on upcoming computer technology truly has me concerned.

The report was on the latest in wearable (yes, you read correctly, WEARABLE) computer hardware. You can buy a jacket with a pocket for aphone, a microphone in your collar, keypad on your sleeve and headpiece with a tiny monitor which swivels to eye level.

This will enable the wearer to drive with (as they say) one eye on the road and one on the computer screen. Anyone like to make a guess before one ofthese contraptions causes an accident? Now, I can certainly see the usefulness of having a cell phone in your vehicle, and will likely get one of the “hands-free” phones as soon as I can, since I dislike having to hold one with my left shoulder and cheek while shifting from second gear.

They are excellent if one gets stuck by mechanical failure or traffic accident. There’s also no end to the time and stress they’ve saved me in thecourse of my busy day.

However, I do NOT believe everyone above the age of 12 needs a cell phone.

Personally, I don’t think any child below driving age needs a phone or even a beeper. At that age, parents should know where their child is at all timesanyway.

Getting back to the wearable computers, though, that technology becomes truly frightening. There’s actually a computer monitor BUILT IN one lens of apair of glasses. Imagine some driver trying to pay attention to the driversand driving conditions around him, distracted by THAT piece of dumbwear.

How would you like to be hit by someone checking their e-mail or upgrading their stock? It’s becoming pressure on young adults, particularly with gobs of disposable income, to become one with the wired universe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In a way, it’s like having a satellite TV system with 500 channels. By the timeI’d find out what’s on, it’s already over.

Drivers are already bad enough without all the distractions of built-in computers and cell phones. Lawmakers now should pass laws banning the useof wearable computers while driving.

(And, by the way, passing more than one vehicle on River Road at one time IS illegal!) I suspect that’s where the name “Yahoo” came from – named for all the yahoos with computer technology being drained of their money for all this unnecessary geekware.

And I hope the lawmakers catch up before somebody’s hurt out there.

I just hope it’s not me.

LEONARD GRAY is a reporter for L’Observateur.

Copyright © #Thisyear# Wick Communications, Inc.Best viewed with 4.0 or higher