Texas Driving Nazis

Texas has passed a number of new driving laws which go into effect this September. A few of the more insidious:

Seatbelts: HB 537 requires all occupants of a vehicle, no matter their age, to be secured by a safety belt, no matter where they are seated in the vehicle... Driving: HB 55 makes it illegal to use a wireless communication device in a school zone unless the vehicle is stopped or a hands-free device is used... HB 2730 prohibits DPS from issuing a driver license or identification card to a person who has not established a domicile in Texas... Vehicle Inspection: SB 589 requires that a vehicle equipment safety compliance label be placed on a windshield, side or rear window stating that the window tinting complies with the appropriate provisions of the Transportation Code. Failing to place the required label on the vehicle could lead to a $1,000 fine.

You can no longer ride in the back seat of a car without a seatbelt, you cannot talk on a cell-phone while driving in a school zone (which will likely be extended to "while driving, period"), you cannot obtain a driver's license without a physical address (what the heck does that have to do with the ability to drive?) and you must now have yet another stupid sticker on your windshield kowtowing to the gods of the road with the flashing lights just to keep them off your back and out of your wallet. This is insane. I think the one that incenses me the most is the cell phone rule. It is amazing how a cascade of idiotic policies get justified by need to keep a first idiotic idea going that was set in motion long ago, rather than just scrapping the first idiotic policy that nobody really wants anymore, anyway because it has proven such a disaster. For example: the IRS, and the abominable tax burden required to keep Medicare and Social Security going. Think about it: Why must we have school zones, anyway? Why must we have public schools? You know, its a good thing I live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, and don't have some commie dictator breathing down my neck over everything I do and regulating my life into oblivion. I mean, just imagine all the regulations and oppression those poor, poor Chinese must put up with: How they must yearn to be free like us!