Now that the elections are finally over, I hope there will be people in Augusta with a backbone.

The “distracted driver law” was a total waste of legislative time and effort, and the Nov. 1 accident on the Casco Bay Bridge affirms that.

The law reminds me of the old saying about closing the gate after the cows got loose. Give people tickets for not paying attention to the road after they kill someone?

It took years of pounding people in the head that wearing seat belts saves lives. Finally, after many fatalities, wearing a seat a belt became law with a penalty imposed for noncompliance.

How many deaths will it take before state lawmakers get the message and ban cell phone use in vehicles? The law should be just like the seat belt law: if you’re not wearing one, you will be fined; and if you’re driving with a cell phone attached to your head, you will be fined.

Many lives, maybe mine or someone else’s, won’t be taken by a distracted driver.

Al Pelletier, Norway