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Who hasn’t witnessed distracted drivers, cell phones pressed to their ears, barreling through intersections? Their disregard for road conditions and other motorists is sometimes frightening, but at least their eyes are on the road.
Not so with the driver balancing a cell phone on the steering wheel, eyes and attention on a text message.
No difference in the risk? Not according to a September report from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. A study that outfitted the cabs of long-haul trucks with video cameras over an 18-month period found that when the drivers sent text messages, their risk of having an accident was 23 times greater than when not texting. The increased risk, combined with the fast-growing use of text-messaging, justifies new laws to ban the practice.
Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, filed a bill last week to do that, establishing a fine for violations. Earlier this year, Holdman’s bill prohibiting teen drivers from texting while driving was approved.
The proposed legislation is attracting support from legislators who generally reject laws regarded as an infringement on personal rights. Rep. Dan Leonard, R-Huntington, told The Journal Gazette’s Niki Kelly that he’s convinced that texting and e-mailing while driving result in driver inattention.
There’s urgency in passing the bill because the use of text-messaging is skyrocketing. In December, cell phone users in the U.S. sent 110 billion messages, a tenfold increase in just three years, according to CTIA, the wireless communications industry’s trade group.
A federal crackdown might bolster Holdman’s effort. Committees of both the U.S. House and Senate held hearings last week on anti-texting legislation supported by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a bill that would set minimum penalties to be included in state law. States would have two years to pass bans or lose 25 percent of their annual federal highway funding. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., offered another version that would give states incentives to discourage distracted drivers.
Research from the American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety found about one in five U.S. drivers said they texted while driving in the past month. Nearly 90 percent of Americans support bans on texting while driving, according to research.
Bans work, according to the AAA. The incidence of texting while driving decreased in California after it was banned there in January. New York’s statewide ban went into effect a week ago. In all, 18 states have outlawed texting while driving, and six have banned all hand-held cell phone use while driving.
Holdman’s bill deserves quick and unanimous support in the Indiana General Assembly.
