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Please, Don’t Ban Texting While Driving!

Sometimes, I think it's safe to text while behind the wheel

Responsible texting can be safe

I live in Washington state, which is one of many states to ban making phone calls on handheld devices while driving. No one actually pays attention to the ban, as evidenced by my recent count of six cars in a row with drivers chatting it up with phones glued to their ears.

An easy way around that ban is to send a quick text rather than having an entire conversation. Texting is faster and can be done at a red light in the time it takes for it to turn green, leaving time to devote the required attention to driving while still meeting my communication needs.

Now though, a group of 11 automakers has formed the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AMM) to push for an all-out ban on texting while behind the wheel.

I’m not going to say that I think texting while driving is completely safe… it’s far from safe when the car is moving. But I do believe there’s a time and a place where it’s OK, such as while stopped at a red light. In those few moments when I have nothing else to do, I don’t want anyone telling me I can’t send a note to my wife telling her I’m x-ited 2 C her 2 nite.

Then there’s this little contradictory gem: Some states offer a service sending text message updates on traffic and weather conditions. Will that be outlawed too? Reading a text message is probably more dangerous than sending one, as seasoned text pros can compose messages without even looking at their phones.

Texting while driving is often compared to drinking and driving, which I think is absurd since texting can done responsibly. (I’ve never known anyone who could be drunk only at red lights.) Drunk driving is a serious and dangerous offense… texting doesn’t have to be any more involved than changing the radio station or adjusting the iPod (uh-oh… watch iPod bans come next).

If I want to send and read texts when I feel it is safe to do so, I want that right. The biggest consequence I see is getting honked at for being a moment late in realizing the light turned green, and that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

What are your views on texting while driving? Should it be outlawed to text while behind the wheel?

-tgriffith

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Автор: RaymondLilly на 02:44 0 коммент.
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Feds Call for Distracted Driving Summit: It’s About Time!

Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called for a September summit to investigate the dangers of texting and other deviant behavior while driving.

People in America got fed up with their children and loved ones being killed by drunk drivers. And people in America are very tired of the idea that people can text and drive and use cellphones and drive in some states.

…

If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough. We’ve learned from past safety awareness campaigns that it takes a coordinated strategy combining education and enforcement to get results. That’s why this meeting with experienced officials, experts and law enforcement will be such a crucial first step in our efforts to put an end to distracted driving.

[Quotes from The New York Times and a DOT news release.]

The Secretary’s message implies, and state efforts demonstrate, the great difficulty of enforcement. We’ve seen the same thing with seat-belt and drunk-driving laws, and many of us remember how long these measures took to take hold.

We’ve seen a recent slew of articles and news reports about cell phones and other distractions (including ours, here and here). But the issue goes back several years and has always been bubbling on the back of the stove.

Sixteen states, including California, and Washington, DC, have passed laws prohibiting texting while driving, but that’s not the only problem by a long shot. The LA Times reports that “Earlier this year, a 56-year-old Illinois woman on a motorcycle was struck and killed by a woman who was applying nail polish while driving.”

We leave you with one more instance of impossible behavior posted two years ago:

Mark Stevens is a multitasking maniac. A couple of months ago, the White Plains, New York, marketing consultant was working his cell phone with one hand and his Blackberry with the other while trying to steer his Mercedes SL500 with his wrists and knees—when he plowed it into a rental vehicle in an Enterprise parking lot. That followed his fourth ticket in four years for talking on his cell phone while driving.

“If you are a determined multitasker, it’s an addiction—and you can’t stop it,” said the 59-year-old Stevens.

Talk about distracted driving. Even during a short trek, he said, he’s likely to sip a Diet Coke and a bottled water, eat a sandwich, read a copy of The Economist, write notes to himself and listen to NPR, in addition to performing his cell phone and Blackberry action—oh, and driving. “I’m a driven person, and that’s why I do all this stuff while I drive.”

Driven person? Mark Stevens should be driven to jail. This stuff would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. Ray LaHood is moving in the right direction.

Do you have any stories of distracted driving—either your own or someone else’s? Do you think the DOT summit will do any good?

—jgoods





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Автор: RaymondLilly на 14:35 0 коммент.
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