Call Goes Out: Drivers, Beware Of Cell Phones

May 22, 1999|By Ann Landers.

Dear Ann Landers: Thank you for printing the letter on cell phones and the dangers they pose. As a traffic safety expert on radio and TV, I hear too many horror stories about people who use their car phones while driving. Your readers might be interested to know that in the following countries, using cell phones while driving has been banned: the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Chile, Switzerland and Israel.

Must we wait until we see some young mother lying in the street next to her kids, a cell phone still in her hand, or a businessman mangled after a car crash with his car phone next to his ear, before we decide to do something to stop this public menace?

Kenny Morse, "Mr. Traffic," Los Angeles

Dear Mr. Traffic: This is a do-it-yourself project if ever I heard one. Are you listening, readers? I hope so. Please keep reading for another letter that could help you (and your children) stay alive:

Dear Ann Landers: As the executive director of the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, I am pleased you told your readers to always wear their seat belts and that parents should place child safety seats in the back seat.

The greatest danger American children face is being unrestrained in a car crash. Each year, six out of 10 kids killed in car crashes are not wearing seat restraints. Nearly half would be alive today if they had been properly buckled up.

Studies consistently show that we won't get children buckled up until we get adults to wear seat belts. A study in the journal Pediatrics found that a buckled driver is three times more likely to buckle up a child. Please encourage your readers to follow the ABCs of passenger safety: Always slide the seat back--and sit back; Buckle everyone; Children sit in the back; Thank you, Ann.

Janet Dewey,

Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign,

National Safety Council, Washington, D.C.

Dear Janet Dewey: Your statistics are chilling. The one that got to me was six out of 10 kids killed in car crashes were not wearing seat belts. I hope every parent will remember this column when their children get in the car.

Dear Ann Landers: After reading your column for so many years, I have decided to join the "how we met" crowd.

Several months after the Japanese surrendered, I was still serving on the USS Guam. The ship was ordered back to New Jersey to be decommissioned. Art, my roommate, was a tall, handsome naval officer, and I was a not-so-tall Marine captain. We decided to go on liberty in New York and have some well-deserved fun.

We had heard there was a swell officers' club in the Sherry Netherlands Hotel. Upon entering, we were met by a middle-aged hostess who welcomed us warmly and seated us in a booth. Shortly after, an attractive young woman showed up and was introduced as the hostess' daughter. She immediately took a shine to my handsome friend--until he remarked that his wife and baby were on the way from Hawaii. This babe dropped old Art like a hot rock and gave me her undivided attention.

Six months later, we were married. I should add that I wasn't all that keen on getting married then because I had gotten a "Dear John" letter while in the South Pacific and sworn off babes, but she changed my mind.

J.C., Atlantic Beach, Fla.

Dear J.C.: Thanks for a fine example of the wisdom in never saying never.