We can never expect Utopia - and it is only going to get worse. Here in Hampton Roads they're planning yet another shipping terminal, thousands more semis on the roads and inevitably even more gridlock, congestion, frustration and people wanting to call home to tell the spouse to hold dinner as they're still stuck in traffic... Short of banning cages, we have to learn to be more attentive to the idiots out there with phones to ear, drinks to mouth, boom boxes rattling their few brain cells, whatever.

Here in Virginia we have the law "kill a biker, go to jail" - for one year. I'm not sure that any of the cagers out there know about it. We need to get out to the schools and talk to the kids when they are first learning to drive. We need to talk in the town halls, the churches, wherever the people are. And we need to enhance that law - kill a biker, go to jail for a year, but if your cell phone was in use, your time in the hoosegow doubles. They may not stop driving and nattering on their phones, but at least they will hopefully be a bit more aware of the damage they could cause. They sure won't want to be inconvenienced by two years in prison.

And yes, I've been there, done that (no, not the hoosegow, I'm disgustingly law-abiding). Both sides, although I hang up if traffic gets heavy and I am VERY careful to make sure my eyes are swivelling twice as hard as usual from mirror to mirror, to make sure I have my situational awareness intact! On my scoot, I've followed someone for miles, very obviously, until they finally stopped and asked why - and then I explained very precisely how they failed to be aware of others on the road. Short of following my initial instinct (which would be to carry my 9mm with me), I can only rely on trying to get the message across to the cagers - even if I would just as soon shove their cell phones somewhere nice and dark!