Mike Riggs on Ray LaHood 1.0

Ray LaHood's latest attempt to revise the rules of the road in response to hysterical fears about in-car technology is nothing new. The proliferation of the cellular phone in the late 1990s was met with a similar response, as was the advent of the car phone in the preceding decade. In fact, writes Associate Editor Mike Riggs, the state's attempt to engineer a distraction-free driving experience dates back to 1930s Massachusetts, when a bureaucrat named George A. Parker tried to ban the newly born car radio.