Must you really take that call?

So Ontario's going ahead with the Driving While Distracted law, which essentially bans talking on a handheld phone while driving.

Good. I'd like to ask what took them so long, but that would be cheeky. What matters is they've finally taken concrete steps toward getting drivers to focus on, you know, their driving.

Sadly, there's a massive gulf between the law and reality. Yesterday morning, a 17-year-old boy lost control of his Jeep after he reached for his ringing phone. He died, while his 16-year-old female passenger was injured.

Since news of this senseless tragedy hit the top of the local news run, I've been wondering what it is about a ringing phone that seems so important to us all. Why do we feel compelled to disconnect from everything we're doing at that moment - chatting with a friend, eating dinner and, yes, driving the car - to grab for the phone and speak with whoever's on the other end? Do we think the world will end if we don't answer? Do we feel like we'll miss some golden opportunity?

While driving the kids home from school recently, I noticed the driver of the minivan next to me looking down repeatedly as we pulled away from a red light. I glanced over and, sure enough, she had her flip phone open, and she was looking at the screen as she dialed. As her car accelerated. And as it drifted toward mine.

I honked her and pointed toward her phone. She put it down and kept on going, doubtless angry at the nasty minivan-driving man who had the temerity to remind her to avoid smacking into everyone around her. If this were an isolated incident, I'd let it go. But every day, I see drivers everywhere so engaged in their Motorolas and iPhones that they literally have no connection to what's going on around them.

I just don't know what it'll take to collectively wake us up. We can have all the laws in the world to define in- and out-of-bounds behavior, but they'll never come close to stopping an accepted behavior that's at the root of a frightening percentage of violent car accidents.

So please accept my apologies for not having any answers. I guess I needed an end-of-week opportunity to rant at yet another example of humanity's inability to make proper use of technology, and people's utter selfishness in assuming their right to make and receive phone calls while controlling incalculable momentum trumps everyone else's right to get home safely.

Your turn: Thoughts?