In the Name of Safety, We Must Ban Listening to the Radio While Driving!

Economy |
By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

For too long, legislators have been avoiding the 800-pound gorilla in the back seat. In the interest of safety, legislators throughout Missouri and across the nation have mandated seat belt use, outlawed alcohol use while driving (obviously, we all agree with that one), banned talking on cell phones, and required children to sit in car seats or booster seats until they are 19 years old (OK, not quite that old). Now, they are banning texting.

All of these laws merely skirt around the edges of the real problem, which is that far too many people are rocking out to music or yelling back at the talk show host while they are driving. This carnage must stop. In the name of safety, and to fully protect the children — whom, as you may have heard — are the future, our leaders must finally take the necessary step to protect us from ourselves by banning the outrageous practice of listening to the radio while driving. It is only right.

(Thanks to Missouri safe-driver-of-the-year John Combest for the links.)

About the Author

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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