On the Road Again

I got an email today stating that effective July 1 there will be several new laws for Texas drivers. One in particular caught my attention (no cell phone use without a hands free device) because I am headed on a road trip this weekend. The news of this almost sent me straight to the cell phone (ugh!) store to get a headset. Yes, yes I know it’s bad that I don’t have a new one yet. It really is on my list. I am very picky, I am still weighing my options.

Lucky for me (and for you) I check out the validity of most of the information that comes my way. I Googled “Texas driving laws July 1” and came up with nothing, then I tried “new Texas driving laws” … still nothing.

At this point I was forced to browse around the Texas Department of Public Safety website. Now, I must tell you how exciting this site is. Watching paint dry comes to mind.

I am a very impatient person when it comes to finding things on the web. When I didn’t see any big flashing banners that said “hey NEW LAWS in effect in zero minus 2 days” I gave up on that website as well.

Now I’m not sure why this next move was my last resort, seeing as it is usually my first.

Step 1: Highlight & Copy first full sentence of the email
Step 2: Paste into Google
Step 3: Trying not to be surprised that search result #2 is my beloved snopes.com

The whole point to this rambling is … if you get a stupid email that says there are new laws in Texas (or whatever state you live in) IT’S NOT TRUE.

I wonder what joy people get by making up ridiculous scams and sending them around? If you haven’t heard of snopes you MUST add it to your list of ‘must have’ websites. I can’t even begin to tell you how many seemingly legit emails that come through are remakes of some email that originated in Virginia in 1997.