Texting While Driving, New Laws

Sure, for some people it is tempting when they see a text message come through on their cell phone while they are driving, to respond right away. Waiting 5 minutes or more to let Sara know that you are free to go out Friday night or letting your spouse know that chicken sounds great for dinner, is seemingly too much to ask. However, a recent study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that long haul truckers that text while driving were 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident than their non-texting counterparts. This is compared to drivers being 6 times more likely to cause an accident if dialing on a cell phone than not. I think they would find that number even higher if they were to do a study of every day drivers in suburban traffic, where drivers have to deal with more stop and go, red lights, cars slowing to turn, etc…

What is surprising is that 36 States have not already banned this type of activity, including Arizona. In fact, the Arizona Senate voted against a bill to ban texting while driving in June 2009. Although, the Phoenix City Council did ban texting almost 2 years ago, within their jurisdiction.

There is now Federal legislation being discussed to try to enforce a texting ban in all States. While it would be up to the States to individually implement the bans, the Federal Government would make it difficult to ignore, by withholding 25% of Annual Federal Highway funding within the State if they choose not to comply within the timeline established. The legislation is being directed specifically at texting while the vehicle is in motion, not for stopped vehicles.

Personally, in the last month, I have had a vehicle run a stop sign in front of me, had a child on a bicycle swerve towards my car, and had a driver make a left hand turn across my lane as I entered the intersection with the right of way. Each of these incidents required a quick reaction on my part to avoid a collision. You can imagine that if I had been looking down at my phone trying to text, the outcome would have been very different.

Even if you believe yourself to be driving safely, remember that you have absolutely no control how other drivers are operating their vehicles.

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