Your Thoughts on Texting While Driving

How do you feel about texting while driving?

Should texting while driving be against the law?

What are some ways you think could help prevent texting while driving, for yourself and/or for others?

Other Driving Distractions

Texting is not the only driving distraction there is. Many drivers are and can be easily distracted by many other things. A poll was taken in 2009 by LeaseTrader.com, a website with information on car leasing. The poll found that drivers identified many distractions not related to texting or even cell phones. The poll concluded that 26% of women found children passengers to be their top distraction. Other top distractions identified by women were applying makeup, tuning the radio, and using navigation systems. Men said their greatest distractions were road rage, food consumption, and checking out other drivers.

Cartoons of Texting While Driving

Texting and the Law

As of November 2009, texting while driving was illegal in 18 states and the District of Columbia. In addition to that, more individual cities have passed laws that ban texting or talking on cell phones while driving in their communities. In 21 states, they ban all cell phone use by all new drivers.

In September 2009, the Obama administration held the Distracting Driving Summit. In the opening of the summit, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, "I want to remind everyone that we cannot rely on legal action alone, becasue in reality, you can't legislate behavior... there aren't enough police on patrol to catch everyone who's breaking the law. Taking personal responsibility for our actions is key t o all of this." On the last day of the summit, President Obama signed an executive order that banned texting while driving for all government employees.

Kids and Texting

Many parents get their child a cell phone for added convenience and safety, knowing that their child is only one phone call away. In many cases for new drivers, having a cell phone can add an addition driving distraction. The Pew Internet and American Life project based a report on teens and distraced driving. They found that almost 75% of twelve to seventeen year olds own a cell phone. 34% of these admit to texting while driving. A total of 48% of all teens say they were passengers in a car when a driver was texting, and of these, 40% at some point felt that cell phone use compromised their safety or the safety of others.

Some teenagers believe that they have safe strategies to help them text more safely while driving. They think that giving their phone to a friend in the car, only using it while stopped at a red light, or by keeping the phone up near the windshield while texting so they wont be looking down. The only one of those three that will never cause an accident of texting while driving is by giving your phone to a freind while you are driving.