This video went up on The Floyd Press web site right after Floyd’s Town Jubilee last month but that version wasn’t available in High Definition (HD). Here’s an updated version. If he video doesn’t play smoothly, try turning off HD by moving your cursor over the video frame and clicking on “HD is on” on [...]

A statewide ban on texting on cell phones goes into effect Wednesday — July 1.

The law is long overdue but it fails to go far enough and will be difficult to enforce because the driver must be doing something else illegal or stupid before a cop can pull them over.

In other words, texting while driving is illegal, but you can’t get a ticket for it unless you are breaking at least one other law.

As Forest Gump would say: "Stupid is as stupid does."

Reports The Associated Press:

Message to drivers who text or e-mail on the road: put the phone down or pay up.

Virginia will join 13 other states and the District of Columbia that have banned texting while driving when the new law and hundreds of others legislators passed this winter take effect Wednesday.

Safe driving advocates said texting or e-mailing while driving significantly increases the chances of getting into a wreck.

Del. John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake and the bill’s sponsor, cited a crash in Florida this spring when the driver of a tractor-trailer hit a school bus while text messaging his wife, killing one student and injuring several others.

“There is no message other than ‘I’m in serious, serious jeopardy’ that is worth that type of risk,” he said.

Those who text or e-mail while driving can receive a $20 fine or $50 for a second offense, but drivers can only receive a citation if they were pulled over for another offense. The law makes an exception for emergency responders such as paramedics or police officers, or those reporting an emergency.

A law that says a driver has to be doing something else illegal before a cop can hit the blue lights and pull the texting idiot over is as stupid a limitation as Virginia’s law which says a cop can’t pull someone over for not using a seat belt only if they are breaking another law.

Another typical loophole from Virginia’s brain-dead General Assembly. It’s too bad the loons in Richmond didn’t have the balls to pass an outright ban on cell phone usage while driving. A woman holding a cell phone to her ear with her shoulder so she could light a cigarette while driving pulled out in front of me on U.S. 221 Sunday. I had to hit my brakes and swerve my motorcycle into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting her. Fortunately, there was no traffic in that lane.

Is texting dangerous? Damn right is is. Consider this press release from a law firm in Texas:

In San Antonio, a public bus driver sending text messages on his phone plowed the 12-ton vehicle he was driving into the back of a stopped SUV. After an accident injuring dozens of people, a Boston trolley driver admitted he was texting his girlfriend when the crash occurred. In California, a commuter train engineer was sending and receiving text messages moments before a head-on collision with a freight train killed 25 people and injured 135 more.

As tragedies involving public transit and text-messaging drivers add up, so does the research indicating that more and more people are using their cell phones to send text messages while driving.

New research shows 26 percent of cell phone users nationwide send text messages while they’re behind the wheel (28 percent of Texas drivers admit to using their cell phones while driving). Almost 60 percent of teenage drivers admit to driving while texting (DWT) and 49 percent of those between 20 and 29 admit to DWT.

(Photo courtesy of The Associated Press. I’m not crazy enough to ride in a car with someone texting while driving, even for a photo op. My mama drowned the dumb ones.)

A little while back, at an event for riders of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, I met Ralph William Carroll Jr., (right) a 59-year-old Master State Trooper from Stanleytown who enjoyed riding Harleys.

Caroll, of Stanleytown, died Friday when his northbound bike collided with a southbound car making a left turn on U.S. 220 in Henry County.

Carrolll was just two years younger than me and, when we met, we talked at length about older riders, reaction times and the dangers of riding bikes on roads where cars change lanes and make turns without looking.

"We can have all the training in the world but when a car pulls out or turns in front of you the force of physics takes over," he said.

According to WSLS, Channel 10:

State Police Sgt. Bob Carpentieri says around 1:00 p.m., a car driven by 20-year-old Christopher Cunningham was in the center turn lane on Route 220 in Bassett Forks. Cunningham then turned left, in front of Trooper Carroll, who was riding his 1986 Harley Davidson motorcycle southbound on Rt. 220.

Carroll hit the passenger side of the car, and was thrown from his motorcycle.

EMTs airlifted Trooper Carroll to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, but he later died.

At least once a week, I have to take evasive action on my motorcycle because some inattentive driver pulls out in front of me, changes lanes without signalling or turns in front of me. All to often the drivers of these cars are talking on cell phones, talking to a passenger or doing something else that distracts them from concentrating on the road.

A lot of State Troopers ride bikes. Master trooper Keith Gregory, assigned to Floyd County, rides a Yamaha and we talk often about bikes and traffic safety.

Carpentieri says charges are pending against the 20-year-old driver of the car.

I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to know Carroll. Bikers are a close-knit group. It’s always tough when we lose one.

(Photo courtesy of Virginia State Police)

Citizens Telephone is getting out of the wireless phone business and becoming an "authorized dealer" for Verizon Wireless — the dominant cell service provider in Floyd County.

Citizens has not yet told its customers — who are also its owners — of the change but Verizon Wireless now lists Citizens as its Floyd representative on their web site.

Verizon customers who used to pay their bills at the "authorized reseller" that operated out of Floyd Pharmacy found out something was changing a few weeks ago when the Verizon counter closed and those who wanted to pay up were directed to the Village Green, home of the Citizens Telephone retail office.

But sales agents at the Village Green had not yet been told of the changeover and told Verizon customers they could not accept payments.

Citizens employees finally learned of the change just last week. I’m told the official changeover comes July 1.

As I understand the coming change, Citizens will no longer offer cell service under their own brand. The co-op has quietly dropped cell service from their web site’s menu of services and wireless service is no longer included in the "bundled" services. Existing Citizens cell phone customers can keep their phones and continue paying Citizens but new accounts will not be opened.

The retreat from the cell phone business is another blow to Citizens’ once-ambitious plan to become a telecommunications player. Last year, the company shut down its money-draining wireless broadband service in the New River Valley, writing off considerable losses and the company’s county-wide deployment of fiber optic is so far behind schedule that they no longer even  promote a target date for completion.

Connie Harland of Portsmouth rode her Harley-Davidson into Floyd Friday last afternoon and decided to stick around for the Friday Night Jamboree. After an evening of flatfooting to country music, she headed back to Roanoke and the Virginia State Harley Owners Group Rally but she came back Saturday with friends for the Town Jubilee.

"Quite a happening little town," she said after buying some pottery from local artisian Tom Phelps. "It’s really nice here."

Yes, one-stoplight Floyd has become a happening little town. From the Friday Night Jamboree to Saturday concerts at various venues like Oak Grove Pavilion, Winter Sun,  Pine Tavern and the Floyd County Store — along with regular entertainment all weekend at Oddfellas Cantina and Over the Moon — Floyd is alive with the sound of music (sorry, couldn’t resist).

With the opening of the town’s first public park and the success of the Town Jubilee, Floyd may be hitting its stride and the future could be something to watch.