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Of all the new state laws that went into effect
July 1, we suspect few will receive more attention
than the one directed at those who send text messages while driving. It's now illegal to send messages, and it’s a secondary offense to read text messages or e-mails while operating a motor vehicle. The law’ does not impose sanctions on emergency vehicles or vehicles that are legally parked.
Those caught disobeying the law can receive a $20 fine for a first offense and a $50 fine for all subsequent offenses.
We like the message lawmakers are sending.
Although not yet on scale with drunken driving, few w’ould argue that texting while driving is a huge and growing safety concern. Exactly how many crashes are caused by drivers texting on their cell phones and BlackBerry devices remains unknown. Motorists usually aren’t keen to volunteer to police that they’d been exchanging messages with their boss or boyfriend when they rear-ended the BMW ahead of them.
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We’ve all likely witnessed a vehicle moving erratically in the last month. Maybe you were nearly sideswiped on the Beltway or saw a car slow down and speed up for no apparent reason. In past years, the first thought was drugs or alcohol. These days, it’s much more likely to be a cell phone.
According to a recent survey by TextFreeDriving.org, 57 percent of drivers admit to texting while driving. Making matters worse is that the most active “texters” are 16- and 17-year-olds, a * demographic who already led the nation in fatal car crashes long before cell phones and text messages arrived on the scene.
While we’re in favor of any law that keeps those numbers in check, at the moment the only way to get a citation for texting and driving is to get pulled over for another offense.
The hope here is that the new law will fuel more voluntary’ compliance and a wave of $50 tickets won’t lie needed to change someone’s behavior.
We call on police to ramp up a public information campaign educating motorists about the hazards of distracted driving. While the dangers of taking hands off the wheel and eyes off the road to answer an email are obvious to many, it’s clear that many motorists need additional information.
Let’s give it to them.
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