Monday, July 04, 2011

Free of Handsfree

A historic ruling drew little public attention today as the Prime Minister repealed all Handsfree legislation in a ceremony attended almost exclusively by journalists, interested only in reporting on the leader's choice of fashion.

Under the bright red banner of office, just after noon, the PM sat to sign away a legislation that had not technically been enforced in years since the advent of the MoveSafe technology, the system which coordinates all vehicles on the road. He was heartily applauded by the present ministers, and nodded to the press with a cheeky grin. Remarkably, the process took an entire ten minutes, all of which the Prime Minister remained present and seated for.

The prohibition against using phones or any other device that required hands to operate was put in place almost one hundred years ago in response to the primitive forms of steering vehicles used. Since they required both hands to steer, it was theorized that forcing drivers to keep both hands on the wheel would reduce accidents. The law was fundamentally flawed from the start, however, as subsequent years and testing demonstrated it was the lack of attention, rather than the physical reality of such devices, that caused the accidents.

The move still attracted some criticism, and even a protester who showed up with a hand-created sign. She remained for the lead up, but departed at the start of the meeting, leaving her sign in the trashcan.

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