OMG, r u crazy, lady?

Self-professed "textaholic" driver Holly Busby doesn't seem to get the spoken message from the Alberta Motor Association that sending text messages onher cellphone while in control of a car is an extremely dangerous practice.

"The act of dialling and occupying one hand, which should be on the wheel, is a no-brainer," AMA spokesman Don Szarko said Monday.

"It clearly puts everyone at risk. The whole idea of texting really just increases the risk, and magnifies the risk 20, 30, 40 times," Szarko said.

But Edmonton driver Busbysaid nothing stops her from doing it, not even while driving during the height of Edmonton's rush hour.

"I'm infamous for texting at a light, and not realizing it went green, and people honk. And one time I even missed a whole light writing a big long text," she laughed.

A missed light is nothing. The other day, Busby said, she was sending text messages and she barely missed a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk.

"And I thought, like, what if they were a metre closer? It was a little scary," she said.

But it was apparently not scary enough to make her stop. She said it just makes her want to get more skilful at it.

"I'll be able to text better while driving, and be more attentive, which I actually am better [at now] than when I started."

Szarko said he doesn't believe practice will make perfect when it comes to sending text messages while driving. He wants the Holly Busbys of Alberta to know it shouldn't be done at all.

He pointed to a new law in Washington state, where,starting in January, the firstlaw of its kindin North Americawill explicitly ban people from sending text messages while driving.

The thought of that law makes Busby cringe. She can send text messages safely while driving her standard-shift car, smoking a cigarette and drinking her coffee, she boasted.

She said she's perfected the art of steering with her knees.