The growing concern over texting while driving has reached a peak in an unlikely place: Utah. Florida legislators should pay attention.
Utah, with its Republican legislature and generally conservative values, not only has banned texting while driving but labeled it as inherently reckless -- much like driving under the influence.
Under a law passed in May, a motorist caught texting and driving faces up to three months in jail. If the driver causes death or injury, he or she could be sentenced to 15 years in prison. The law was in response to a car crash that killed two scientists.
"It's a willful act," Lyle Hillyard, a Republican state senator, told The New York Times. "If you choose to drink and drive or if you choose to text and drive, you're assuming the risk."
More than a dozen states ban texting while driving, but usually as a misdemeanor involving a relatively small fine.
Florida has no ban whatsoever.
That needs to change -- and will if the Legislature finally passes and the governor signs a bill proposed by state Rep. Doug Holder, R-Sarasota.
Holder's legislation
Holder filed anti-texting bills in the last two legislative sessions, but they went nowhere. He recently filed another one for next spring's session.
Holder's bill would prohibit operating "a moving motor vehicle while reading, manually writing or typing, or sending a message on an electronic wireless communications device." Exceptions are made for reporting a crime, summoning medical or emergency help, or trying to prevent injury.
The penalty under Holder's measure, however, is fairly soft. A violation would be "a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a nonmoving violation." Violators could be assessed a fine and community service.
The cautious nature of Holder's bill, and of similar laws passed in other states, is understandable. Texting is a relatively new practice and enforcement of a ban can be difficult. It's hard for officers to see a small electronic device inside a vehicle. Efforts to confiscate phone records to determine when a driver was texting are subject to search-and-seizure and privacy defenses. Even if the records are obtained, it's difficult to prove a driver was texting while the car was moving rather than idled at a stoplight.
Yet, both research and the Utah case suggest that the Legislature should not only pass but toughen Holder's bill.
Recognize the dangers
Studies show that "texting drivers regularly focus on their screens for stretches of more than five seconds," The New York Times has reported. That's enough time for a car going 60 mph to travel more than the length of a football field.
Research at the University of Utah shows that texting car drivers are eight times more likely to crash than drivers who aren't texting. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truckers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to cause a crash or near-crash than truckers who don't.
To charge a texting driver with recklessness, legal experts say, a prosecutor must prove that the driver knew of the risks.
The severity of the Utah law and the nationwide publicity it has attracted have helped make drivers in that state recognize the dangers involved when they text.
Drivers in Florida should understand those risks as well.
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
New texting while driving ban law goes into effect today
Apparently it’s serious enough for a new Missouri law going into effect today that prohibits drivers of 21 years of age or younger from sending, reading or writing electronic messages while driving.
“Young people will be forced to at least keep their fingers off their keyboards while they drive,” said Leanna Depue, director of Highway Safety or the Missouri Department of Transportation. “The law is a small step toward counteracting some of the distracted driving that causes crashes in Missouri.”
For parents who have their teens sons or daughters whine about the new law, about such laws “invade their privacy,” tell them to jump on You Tube and watch a horrific public service announcement from Wales, United England, concerning the bloody consequences of a text-driven accident on a multi-lane highway.
In the video — just type in “PSA Texting Wales” — it shows three giggling teens in a car trying to text a good looking guy and, as we often see in real life, paying little attention to the road. It then shows their vehicle smashing head-on with a second car in the opposite lane. Seconds later, a third vehicle smashes into the first two.
One of the most chilling parts is a beautiful baby with sky-blue eyes that, sadly, ddoesnt survive the collision. In another car, a little girl in the backseat begs and pleads through tears for her “mommy and daddy” to wake up — they don’t. It’s creepy, powerful and worth the few minutes for Carthage parents and their teens to view together.
Text crashes
Eighty percent of crashes involve some form of driver distraction, and teens admit texting is the No. 1 thing that diverts their attention while driving. Half of all teen drivers say they send text messages while driving.
“I used to do it,” said Sandy Miers, 23, with a guilty smile. “I don’t do it anymore, but I used to.
“Most of the time it happened (in parking lots or red lights), but sometimes it would” happen while she drove down the street.
According to a recent study by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, distracted driving is the leading cause of traffic crashes in Missouri and nationwide.
Studies show texting drivers spend up to 400 percent more time with their eyes off the road.
“With cars traveling at 70 mph, it is horrifying to realize so many young, inexperienced drivers don’t have their eyes on the road,” Depue said.
At a recent public forum earlier this year, a montage of photos showed, in MTV-like rapid shots, photos of wrecked cars and trucks and the destruction such vehicle can wrought when out of control — twisted metal, burning rubber and mutilated, bleeding corpses of young teens.
“That’s something that we in law enforcement see quite a bit,” said Sgt. Mike Watson, a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
And cell phones are sometimes found in their hands or nearby.
Those cell phones are near and dear to many teens because they’ve become more than just a tool; they are key status symbols of sorts,
Said Lindsay Matush, the developing director at Joplin’s The Bridge.
In fact, it’s the No. 2 symbol marking popularity among girls next to clothes. At one time, cell phones were simply mobile phones. Now their mobile, lightweight entertainment centers, with cameras, Internet accessibility and the ability to text all right there at a teen’s fingertips.
Texting while driving among teens continues to be a huge problem on city streets and highways the world over — about 46 percent of teens text while they drive.
The new law
Missouri has now become the 23rd state to ban the use of texting while driving. The law, sponsored by Sen. Ryan McKenna, reads: “Any person 21 years of age or younger who operates a moving motor vehicle while sending, reading, or writing a text or electronic message by means of a hand-held electronic wireless communications device will be guilty of an infraction.
Missouri is only the ninth state, however, to single out a particular age group. The fine for texting is $200.
The best way for a teenager to survive, or for a parent to help their kids survive when they reach the driving age, is to practice “avoidance and survivability.”
The “avoidance” part means to avoid the types of teen activity that causes inattention when driving — talking or texting on cell phones, talking to a friend in the car, eating or paying more attention to the stereo.
“Survivability” is simple — seatbelts. In many of the photos of dead teens in the slideshow Watson played, some lay crumpled far from their vehicles, having been ejected at the point of impact through the windshield.
One of the most haunting moments in Watson’s presentation from earlier this year was describing what he calls the worst part of his job. From there, he detailed what he has to do when informing a mother and father about the death of their son or daughter, including knocking on their door, rousing groggy-eyed parents from their beds, sitting them down in chairs or atop a couch, telling them their son or daughter would no longer be coming home and, at last, handing them their son’s wallet or daughter’s purse, extracted by Watson from the scene of the accident.
“My biggest hope is that I’ll never have to do that again… in my lifetime, telling them their sons or daughters will never be coming back,” he said.
Source
“Young people will be forced to at least keep their fingers off their keyboards while they drive,” said Leanna Depue, director of Highway Safety or the Missouri Department of Transportation. “The law is a small step toward counteracting some of the distracted driving that causes crashes in Missouri.”
For parents who have their teens sons or daughters whine about the new law, about such laws “invade their privacy,” tell them to jump on You Tube and watch a horrific public service announcement from Wales, United England, concerning the bloody consequences of a text-driven accident on a multi-lane highway.
In the video — just type in “PSA Texting Wales” — it shows three giggling teens in a car trying to text a good looking guy and, as we often see in real life, paying little attention to the road. It then shows their vehicle smashing head-on with a second car in the opposite lane. Seconds later, a third vehicle smashes into the first two.
One of the most chilling parts is a beautiful baby with sky-blue eyes that, sadly, ddoesnt survive the collision. In another car, a little girl in the backseat begs and pleads through tears for her “mommy and daddy” to wake up — they don’t. It’s creepy, powerful and worth the few minutes for Carthage parents and their teens to view together.
Text crashes
Eighty percent of crashes involve some form of driver distraction, and teens admit texting is the No. 1 thing that diverts their attention while driving. Half of all teen drivers say they send text messages while driving.
“I used to do it,” said Sandy Miers, 23, with a guilty smile. “I don’t do it anymore, but I used to.
“Most of the time it happened (in parking lots or red lights), but sometimes it would” happen while she drove down the street.
According to a recent study by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, distracted driving is the leading cause of traffic crashes in Missouri and nationwide.
Studies show texting drivers spend up to 400 percent more time with their eyes off the road.
“With cars traveling at 70 mph, it is horrifying to realize so many young, inexperienced drivers don’t have their eyes on the road,” Depue said.
At a recent public forum earlier this year, a montage of photos showed, in MTV-like rapid shots, photos of wrecked cars and trucks and the destruction such vehicle can wrought when out of control — twisted metal, burning rubber and mutilated, bleeding corpses of young teens.
“That’s something that we in law enforcement see quite a bit,” said Sgt. Mike Watson, a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
And cell phones are sometimes found in their hands or nearby.
Those cell phones are near and dear to many teens because they’ve become more than just a tool; they are key status symbols of sorts,
Said Lindsay Matush, the developing director at Joplin’s The Bridge.
In fact, it’s the No. 2 symbol marking popularity among girls next to clothes. At one time, cell phones were simply mobile phones. Now their mobile, lightweight entertainment centers, with cameras, Internet accessibility and the ability to text all right there at a teen’s fingertips.
Texting while driving among teens continues to be a huge problem on city streets and highways the world over — about 46 percent of teens text while they drive.
The new law
Missouri has now become the 23rd state to ban the use of texting while driving. The law, sponsored by Sen. Ryan McKenna, reads: “Any person 21 years of age or younger who operates a moving motor vehicle while sending, reading, or writing a text or electronic message by means of a hand-held electronic wireless communications device will be guilty of an infraction.
Missouri is only the ninth state, however, to single out a particular age group. The fine for texting is $200.
The best way for a teenager to survive, or for a parent to help their kids survive when they reach the driving age, is to practice “avoidance and survivability.”
The “avoidance” part means to avoid the types of teen activity that causes inattention when driving — talking or texting on cell phones, talking to a friend in the car, eating or paying more attention to the stereo.
“Survivability” is simple — seatbelts. In many of the photos of dead teens in the slideshow Watson played, some lay crumpled far from their vehicles, having been ejected at the point of impact through the windshield.
One of the most haunting moments in Watson’s presentation from earlier this year was describing what he calls the worst part of his job. From there, he detailed what he has to do when informing a mother and father about the death of their son or daughter, including knocking on their door, rousing groggy-eyed parents from their beds, sitting them down in chairs or atop a couch, telling them their son or daughter would no longer be coming home and, at last, handing them their son’s wallet or daughter’s purse, extracted by Watson from the scene of the accident.
“My biggest hope is that I’ll never have to do that again… in my lifetime, telling them their sons or daughters will never be coming back,” he said.
Source
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