Reading while driving – Seriously?

Billboards & street signs are fine, but a reading a book or magazine while driving?  Seriously!!   I haven’t found anything in the “law” that prevents this, but does common sense just go out the window for some people?

I don’t have a long drive to and from work, but its long enough to see some pretty strange stuff.  This morning, while waiting for a crossing guard by a school, I noticed the lady next to me reading a book.  Not just casual glances either.  She had the paperback novel in her hands, resting them both on the top of the steering wheel and….reading her book….in a school zone.  Really??  Granted the only prohibitory sign in the area was a cell phone with a red circle and line through it.  So, I suppose technically, she wasn’t using her cell phone or texting, but…reading a book?

Out of curiosity, I followed the lady for a bit just to see when she might put her book down and  pay attention to her driving.  She didn’t.  By the time I had to turn off to get to work, she still had the book propped up on her steering wheel.  Amazing.

Do distracted driving laws only target cell phones and texting, or do the proposed regulations really need to add – NO READING BOOKS OR MAGAZINES while driving?
Anything that takes away your primary focus of driving is distracted driving.  Unruly kids in the back seat.  Using your cell phone.  Eating a sandwich.  I am just as guilty as the next person in doing those things, but I have never has the inclination to read a chapter or two in a book while driving.

The moral of the story.  Pay attention to your driving.  Reading a book has to be one  of the biggest distracted driving oddities out there.  If you doubt it, go to a driving safety school and find the section where its OK to drive.  I don’t think you’ll find it.