It’s been seen in driver’s ed: the guy yapping on the phone who plows into the back of the car in front of him, the girl applying mascara who veers off-road and totals her car, the woman spilling her coffee and causing a nineteen-car pileup. The message these videos sent has been enough to warn the general population to keep their eyes on the road—until now.

In several states, legislators recently proposed laws banning everything from drinking and eating, to interaction with animals, to playing instruments while driving. Many cities passed anti-cell phone use while driving laws in the past few years, such as New York. These new bans are just the next step in the ladder. Bans on cell phone use paved the way for more legislation proposing the outlaw of reading, writing, personal grooming, eating, drinking, smoking, playing an instrument, and interaction with animals in addition to using communicative devices.

What are the proposed consequences for violating one of these rules? Up to $600 in fines.

These plans have healthy intentions; legislators believe with more restrictions on drivers, our streets are safer. But is it necessary?

With these new laws, proposed in Vermont, Texas, and Maryland, someone who did not have time to eat breakfast before school could be fined half a thousand dollars for chowing a Nutri-Grain bar in his or hear car. Someone reading a map could be pulled over for distracted driving. The list goes on, and so does the ridiculousness of some of the new laws.

Distraction is a major cause of most accidents. Two weeks ago, I was rear-ended while at a stoplight. The girl who hit me simply said, “I honestly don’t know what I was looking at.” The damages were minor, but as always, it could have been worse. However, flooding the judicial system with minor infractions to try to make safer streets seems over-zealous. Hot coffee, pets, and cigarettes have been around longer than automobiles. The only reason legislators are now trying to outlaw them is due to ban-happy lawmakers and the pathway paved by banning cell phones.