Random Thoughts, Facts & Quotes

The number of people driving while talking on the phone, texting, reading, looking for something they dropped, et al is not acceptable. Current laws are not a deterrent since the small number of police we have are occupied with other duties and heaps of paperwork. This problem will only continue getting worse. I would like to see a bill mandating all insurance companies cover only a percentage of a crash when that crash was caused by their customer, and that customer was using a phone at the time of the crash (or evidence of any non-driving-related activity can be proven by video or witness testimony). There must be a serious deterrent in place to cause behavioral change. Yesterday someone stopped dead in front of me - in a 45 mph zone - because they missed a left turn, one which offered an ample left turn lane provided for the purpose of avoiding such incidents. As I then passed that person in the right shoulder, rather than rear-end their car, I was not surprised to see the driver sp...

Yesterday we were walking our dog at a private park in Cumberland, RI named The Monastery. This park offers excellent walking trails. There are signs all over the place, clearly stating that dogs must be leashed . The town of Cumberland does, in fact have a leash law . As we walked along with our leashed dog we came across two women walking two unleashed and totally uncontrolled dogs - by totally I mean to say that the dogs did not respond to the owner's commands. Our dog is small and often afraid of larger dogs, even more so when there's more than one and they are running wild. As these two dogs came running toward us we had no idea of their temperament. I called out from about 100' away to the apparent owners, asking if they would call their dogs. Their efforts to do so did nothing whatsoever. As the dogs came within arms length I pushed them away - gently - and told them to go away. Our dog was whimpering and upset. As the owners approached they made no effort whatsoev...