Texting while driving needs nationwide ban
What cell phones can do today is remarkable. What we essentially carry in our pockets are hand-held computers with high-speed Internet access.
And while they can multi-task, you can’t—at least not behind the wheel.
Why then do so many people text while driving, not to mention check e-mail or surf the web?
States across the country are beginning to adopt laws prohibiting texting while behind the wheel. Austin, which passed a law banning texting while driving in August to be effective in October, will hand out Class C misdemeanors to offending drivers as well as cyclists.
That’s right—cyclists.
A study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that texting while driving increases the likelihood of crashing by 23 percent.
While it’s convenient to read e-mails on the morning drive to work or school, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s dangerous, illogical and, soon, illegal.
The first thing each 15-year-old is told when learning to drive is that focus is essential to safety. A recent study found that a driver’s focus is distracted from the road for almost five seconds while text messaging.
While various states, including Texas, have taken the initiative to combat this problem, it is a nationwide issue that should be federally outlawed.
The Alert Drivers Act of 2009, which is now in the Senate, would do just that. The bill would force states to hand out minimum penalties, established federally, for texting while driving, or give up 25 percent of allotted federal highway financing.
While it might seem inappropriate for the state or federal government to regulate something like text messaging, it has become necessary.
Just look around at passing cars the next time you’re at an intersection and notice the number of drivers distracted by phones. Do you feel safe with all those drivers’ fingers flying over the keypads of their phones?
So, if distracted driving is dangerous, and texting is a clear distraction to driving, then texting while driving is dangerous. It logically follows and is, appropriately, illegal.
![According to a 1993 archive from Congressional Quarterly Almanac, “[Judge] Ginsburg was known as a restrained and fair-minded judge who did her homework and then some.” She was “considered moderate to conservative on criminal issues and business law,” relatively progressive “on issues such as free speech, religious freedom and separation of church and states,” and more liberal on “civil rights and access to the courts.”](https://www.hilltopviewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/VP-4RBG_CC-by-WFULawSchool-475x317.jpg)
