If only the towers emitted common sense...

There has been quite an uproar following the death of a man on Interstate 87 (the Adirondack Northway). The man and his wife's car went into a ditch during an ice storm. There was no cell phone coverage in the ditch and the man died. The death galvanized calls for cell phone towers to be installed all along the rural northern stretches of the Northway.

Not surprisingly, the villain in the piece is environmentalists. According to the hysteria, if not for tree huggers, there would be cell towers on the Northway and the man would have lived. The environmentalists are putting scenic views ahead of people!!

As in many simplistic morality tales, this isn't quite the whole truth.

A plan was approved in 2002 by the region's regulatory body, the Adirondack Park Agency, that would've allowed for the installation of a series of 33 cell phone towers along the remote stretches of the Northway.

But though this plan was approve FIVE years ago, it has never been implemented.

Why?

Not because of the evil tree huggers. The region's main environmental groups SUPPORT this plan that would enhance the public safety of motorists on the Northway.

The reason the plan hasn't been implemented is because cell phone companies have decided it's not profitable enough to install towers in the sparsely populated Park.

It is certainly their prerogative to do so but Park residents should quit blaming boogeymen like the Adirondack Council because Cingular, Nextel and Verizon don't view the residents as beneficial enough to their bottom line. Blame capitalism, not the Greenies.

The pro-"free market" residents of the Park want the state to foot the bill for the construction of the towers so that they hugely profitable corporations don't have to.

The more annoying part of this debate, the hysteria as I put it, has to do with how one unfortunate death was exploited to advance an agenda that's been around for several years. Residents couldn't get private corporations to put up the towers so now they want state taxpayers to foot the bill.

One person dies in circumstances that have more to do with that person's individual choices and suddenly we have to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to change everything.

"You mean we can talk to people on the moon, but we can't talk to people on Interstate 87?" wondered a member of the Jewish community to wish the deceased motorst belonged.

Apparently, it's now a God-given right to be able to yack on your cell phone on every square inch of the Earth's surface. I suppose hungry peasants in Ethiopia are having their fundamental human rights violated because they don't have access to the new iTunes phone!

Local elected officials did their part to fan the frenzy.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported that local state Sen. Betty Little said, “We’re really talking about being able to communicate when there’s an emergency and a need. The most important thing here that we’re talking about is safety.”

This was after she said she can't imagine living without her cell phone and her Blackberry.

I know politicians can get a skewed view of reality when they spend too long in the cocoon of the capital, but Sen. Little should be made aware that the ability to type out an email to a campaign donor does not constitute a matter of grave public safety!

Even the local newspaper got into the act.

The Glens Falls Post-Star recently posted an appeal seeking stories of people who have been helped by cellular phones, or who have had problems using cellular phones, when summoning assistance in the Adirondacks region, including Warren, Washington, Saratoga and Essex counties.

Is this 'we don't make news, we just report it' or is this finding facts that fit a pre-determined agenda?

Usually such appalling bias is more well-hidden.

There's more hypocrisy involved. Part of the hysteria insisted that "we must do anything to prevent another death along the Northway."

Who knows, maybe the legislature will pass a bill banning snow and ice from landing on the Northway. It is Albany, after all.

But what about the rest of the Adirondack Park? Is the ability of people driving from Montreal to New York City (or to the state Senate chamber) to use their Blackberrys more important than the safety of permanent residents who don't live alongside the Northway? If a local dies on Route 28 near Blue Mountain Lake, will there be the same red-faced demands for more cell towers than when a Brooklynite dies on the Interstate?

The man crashed because he insisted on driving on the Northway during the most severe ice storm in a decade, rather than getting off and checking into a motel. Given the hideous weather conditions, it's not clear if rescue vehicles would reached him in time even if there had been cell phone service in the ditch.

I remember that ice storm. It was barely safe enough for me to walk three blocks to the convenience store without breaking my neck, let alone to drive a one ton hunk of metal hurtling down the Interstate. I chose safety first. My burning desire for a bottle of diet soda would have to wait.

I ride on the Northway, often during the winter, sometimes during bad weather. In fact, I've been in two accidents in the mountains, once during a snow storm.

In bad driving conditions there are simple solutions. Those solutions do not include blaming the Adirondack Council. They do not include grabbing your cell phone and calling a helicopter. They do not include borrowing Sen. Little's bodily appendage Blackberry. The solutions involving driving slowly and carefully or to pull off the road altogether and wait for the weather to clear. Being smart is more important than being connected.

Maybe these solutions require more patience than Brooklynites have, but locals know that wisdom is more of a life saver than speed.

If you live in the Adirondack Mountains, common sense has a much bigger impact on your safety than cell phone service.

Update: Post-Star online director Pat Dowd responds, "I am sorry for your suspicion! We are looking for people who had problems to see if the cell phone dead spots are an issue with readers or not. So I'd put that in the 'just reporting it' category. But thanks for keeping us on our toes!" I suppose I'll take her at her word for now and suspend judgement (though not attentiveness) for the moment.