Cell phone nation

Was chatting with my mom this afternoon, who's visiting from Washington, DC. While walking along she told me her trip was fine except that on her ride from the airport in Boston the cabbie was having an animated cell phone discussion the whole way. Attention to the road seemed to come second. This is a particular issue in Boston but it doesn't have to be that way. I notice in New York City there's a rule against it, which the cabbies follow.As we continued our walk we came to a crosswalk near an elementary school. The crossing guard was dressed in her usual uniform and day-glo vest, with white gloves. But we noticed that she, too, was chatting on a cell phone while directing traffic and motioning kids across the street. Interesting.