States ponder bans on smokes, combs, and just about anything else while driving

BARRE, Vt. — “Licence and registration please.”

“Why’d you stop me for officer?”

“It’s illegal to drive while playing the harmonica, sir. Nice tune though.”

Has that exchange ever happened to you? Well it could in more than a handful of U.S. states where not only is talking on your cellphone while driving illegal, but where politicians also want bans on smoking, drinking coffee, putting on makeup (if that’s your sort of thing), and, yes-playing musical instruments.

The violins will be playing for you if you get slapped with the
sort of driver distraction fine Vermont is proposing

Emboldened by the passage of cellphone bans for drivers, some states are now targeting other habits that lead drivers to take their eyes off the road, according to Associate Press.

In Vermont, lawmakers are considering a measure that would make all the aforementioned actions illegal, as well as reading, writing, personal grooming, “interacting with pets or cargo,” or using any other personal communication device while driving. Drivers who disobey could get slapped with a fine as high as US$600.

Similar bills, reports AP, are under consideration in Maryland and Texas, and Connecticut recently passed one that bans “any activity that could interfere with the safe operation of a motor vehicle.”

Distracted drivers were involved in nearly 80 percent of all collisions or near-crashes, according to a recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, released last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Republican state Representative Thomas Koch in Vermont said his wife recently saw a driver playing the flute, while on the road, which led him to include the instrument ban in his bill.

Forget, then, about any plans to take the symphony out on a road tour.

— with files from Associate Press