States Ban Texting While Driving*; Riders Breath (Small) Sigh of Relief
There's a good chance you've ridden amidst wandering vehicles piloted by drivers (and I use the term loosely) engrossed in far more important tasks than driving-- pastimes including applying makeup, gabbing on the phone, or especially as of late, text messaging. In fact, texting has become such an epidemic distraction that unusual measures have been taken to protect even digit-fiddling pedestrians from ceremoniously bonking into poles while walking down the sidewalk.
States including New Jersey and Washington State have banned the practice while driving, with many more (including Tennessee, Maryland, and New Hampshire) are on their way to doing the same. With "distracted driving" to blame for 80% of car crashes and 65% of near crashes according to an NHTSA study, anything that might keep drivers' eyes on the road is at least a step in the right direction, no?
* Savor this image of Paris Hilton behind the wheel, because it's the first (and very likely last) time she will appear on these pages.
Comments
UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE!! The idea that this sort of idiocy is just now illegal defies all logic.
A couple provinces have recently made cell phone use while driving illegal and I think that should be done world wide. People do stupid things in cars when they’re “paying attention”….never mind while yapping on a phone. That that they don’t see the danger in texting while driving is beyond comprehension. Yet another example of a law required to protect us from ourselves.
Now if I can just figure out how secure my laptop to the tank bag…..
People in NYC can’t even walk a straight line while they are talking on the phone, texting, adjusting their ipods. Driving is serious business. If I had my choice we’d rip out driver accessible play things, put a sound proof shield between the driver and children, and require four-point harnesses and helmets for everyone in a cage. Maybe if someone had to mess up their hair and wrinkle their clothes drive, they may think about why they are driving in the first place.
I just read in the newspaper today that a man is trying to use an Oreo as an excuse for losing control of his vehicle. He was apparently dipping it into milk, dropped it and was trying to fish it out when he lost control.
Why do people have to be so stupid? Using a cell phone while driving should already be illegal (it seems like eating while driving should be too). Yet, there is something to say about using a cell phone if you see a drunk driver or think that someone is following you, or you think that your passenger is having a heart attack, etc. etc. Anyway, texting should definitely already be illegal.
I also am amazed how jurisdictions have allowed any distractions from driving so far. In Driver’s Ed we learned full attention and both hands on the wheel. I once saw a guy with the cell phone tucked between his head and shoulder as he was writing with his hands into a note book. I can only imagine what was holding the wheel!
I believe if cell use, or any other preoccupation is a mitigating factor in a crash, especially where injury or death happens, then the book should be thrown at that driver.