Time for a discussion on the subject of distracted driving.

As you know if you read this column regularly (thank you all), I am an avid motorcycle enthusiast. Riding my small Harley (is that an oxymoron?) some 200 miles a week mostly on two lane roads in Allegan County provides one with a lot of wind screen time.

Motorcycles are inherently dangerous, no getting around it; in a clash with another vehicle the bike loses every time. Any rider with basic intelligence is hyper-vigilant at all times, never assuming the other vehicle will follow the law. There are bold bikers and old bikers but no old, bold bikers.

As you ride a motorcycle you notice the seeming large number of vehicles that are all over the road, weaving over the lines a good bit and driving at various speeds. Looking at the operator of the vehicle you clearly see they are using an electronic communications device of some sort, a truly dangerous thing to do.

When I encounter one of these folks I do not pass them; who knows when they will go over the line again? I find a cross street and get out of their way. The problem is the sheer number of these dangerous folks on the road and the percent of increase every year.

After being diagnosed with advanced aggressive prostrate cancer, I read that exercise and diet could help in the fight, so with the companionship of my wife and neighbors we took to walking two miles per day three times per week. I eliminated red meat and most sugar from the diet and cut down on salt. In discussing this with my oncologist, she said though an outstanding thing for overall health, it will not help hold off the spread of my type of cancer; well, it sure can’t hurt to stay with it.

Walking one mile up and one mile back on our walks on a two-lane road places you close to passing vehicles and gives you a good view of the operator’s actions. I started to note the percent of drivers with something in their hands and came up with the unscientific number of 30 percent distracted drivers. Some fail to see us even with a hi-visibility vest and flashing red light.

The good news is that advancements in vehicle engineering make them safer for the drivers and passengers in an automobile, however not much safer for a biker or pedestrian with the number of distracted drivers on the road.

Well we have identified the problem; now it is time for a solution, but sadly I can think of none. Folks walking into a water fountain because they are staring transfixed to an electronic communication device, or walking into a hole dug in the ground or into traffic are too common. Many if not most new cell/smart phones and automobiles have a hands-free communications ability, but apparently few choose to use it.

Perhaps we need to have a national program similar to the one we had way back in the last century to get folks to use seat belts? A heads up display similar to the displays we see on military aircraft? A warning signal that activates when a hand-held device is used when the vehicle is moving?

One fact is that law enforcement can’t fix this, it is just to large a social problem. Any attempt to deny folks the ability to text and drive will fail as people will pay good money (as they did to override the seat belt safeties in the 1960s, even today) to defeat the safeties. Texting and driving are ingrained into two generations of Americans; any attempted solution must be one that allows folks to text and drive or it will fail.