The Massachusetts legislature is trying to take away even more of people’s freedom than they already have, specifically the freedom to drive a car.
The version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives bans drivers from using cell phones without hands-free devices and from texting, and required drivers over 75 years old to have vision tests every 5 years in order to keep their licenses.
The Senate bill is even worse. It makes texting a primary offense, bans junior operators from using cell phones at all, and requires people at age 75, 80, and every three years thereafter to be tested by doctors in order to keep their license, although they are allowed to take a road test if that fails.
Why are people unable to understand that driving should be treated as a right, not a privilege? Texting does not violate anyone’s rights. Neither does using a cell phone. Neither does driving, no matter what age you are. It is true that texting, talking on the phone, and age affect the probability of being in an accident. Hitting someone with your car violates their rights. But doing something that might increase your chances of violating someone’s rights is not the same as violating someone’s rights. The government only has the right to ban the latter.
This is going to sound radical, but it is what I believe: People of all ages have a right to drive. We have a right to text and talk while driving. Forcing people to take tests, pay money, or undergo medical exams in order to drive violates our rights.
I am especially disturbed at the part of the Senate bill that forces elderly people to be screened by their doctors. Sen. Brian Joyce, one of the leaders in the fight against driving freedom, said that this “makes it a lot less threatening to seniors.” I completely disagree. I would much rather have a driving test at the RMV than a medical exam. A test of your driving abilities, by people who treat you as a person, preserves one’s privacy and dignity much more than being examined by a doctor. Although I am strongly opposed to requiring road tests for older drivers, I am even more strongly opposed to requiring medical exams. This law, if it passes, would be an almost unprecedented violation of liberty, on the level of the Durham-Humphrey Amendment and required strip searches at airports and much worse than taxes, gun bans, or security cameras. The government does require medical exams for certain jobs and if I’m not mistaken to attend public school, but they have never, to my knowledge, required adults to have a medical exam to do something as basic as driving. Mandating medical exams is the exact opposite direction that the world should be moving in.
I do not understand why so many purportedly pro-liberty people choose this issue on which to take a position that is diametrically opposed to their overall ideology. Why don’t the Libertarian Party, Republican Party, and Tea Party movement make a fuss over these abuses of our right to drive? Why are so few people willing to bravely take a stand?
If you live in Massachusetts and you agree with me, won’t you contact your state Senator and Representative and ask them to vote against all bills that further restrict people’s right to drive?