It isn't just dialing or answering the phone as you drive, holding the phone up to your ear with one hand, but the conversation that's distracting as well. All that talking is a cause of accidents.

Carried to its logical extreme, passengers should be arrested for talking to drivers. Radios should be banned. Putting on makeup at stoplights and traffic jams. Billboards or anything not having to do with the operation and direction of a vehicle should be outlawed. Even store signs should be taken down, along with house numbers.

Until we get robots, auto-pilots, radar and Global Positioning Systems to handle the driving task, drivers should be encapsulated or physically separated from distractions like telephones, radios or other people in the vehicle.

No doubt, the government will soon spend billions encouraging Detroit to design cars that completely separate the driver from everything but two hands on the wheel, seat belt fastened, and full attention to what he or she is doing. One front seat, with a window separating the driver from passengers like a limousine or handsome cab. Maybe, keep the driver outside where he can hear sirens and whistles, not being distracted from anything inside and behind him.

How about separating driving and riding into two units, taking passengers and groceries in tow? We've already got mini-vans. How about mini-semis or small tractor-trailer rigs? Of course, parking lots will have to be redesigned, but isn't human life worth it?

No more soccer moms riding around with a bunch of kids distracting them. No more Septran, school buses, or vans ferrying oldsters to market. Let's get rid of all distractions.

How about tracks, cables, tubes or monorails that you simply snap your vehicle-box unto when there's an opening. Everything moving at the same speed with no cross traffic. Over/under paths and automatic switches all over the place. Program your box ahead of time with where you want to go, get clearance, snap on and take off in complete security. You'll be switched to your destination without having to do a thing.

Remember, driving a car is a privilege. One that can be taken away from you at any time by the behavior legislators, the social engineers of government. You don't really need a car.

No doubt about it, New York is on the cutting edge of new technology and laws that eliminate danger for people without common sense.