Cell phones and texting are deadly while driving

She doesn't text while driving, mostly because she doesn't know how to text. But the cell phone, which she does know how to use, stays in the ash tray when she drives us to our favorite parks and other walking places.

A long time ago, she says, her father told her that, when driving, the driver should be doing nothing else: not looking for the coffee cup, or lighting a cigarette, or searching for a radio station, or scrambling for coins. There is time enough to do that, he said, when the car is stopped and the driver does not have to be on the lookout for cars suddenly slamming on the brakes, or animals darting across the road, or children running into the street.

Perhaps if more humans paid attention to the act of driving, fewer squirrels would be lying dead along the roadways this year. They are easy to spot, if you are looking for them. And they are easy to avoid, if you see them in time--as you would be if looking ahead and not at a cell phone in your hand.

We have had a number of close calls this year, because nuts are scarce and the squirrels must scavenge far and wide to find adequate food. But because she was paying attention, she was able to stop in time.

From the number of dead squirrels along the roads, though, it is apparent that not all drivers are as attentive. Makes you wonder if the drivers would be able to stop, if it was a child running into the path of their car.