AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers tentatively approved a statewide ban against texting while driving, saying the practice is a hazard more dangerous than drunken driving.
The legislation would ban text, electronic and instant messaging by a motorist while driving. It would not apply when a driver is stopped at a traffic light or stop sign. Violations could lead to a Class C misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $200.
"The key to this is, a lot of people are being killed because of texting," said Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, author of HB 243. "It's a function of safety and saving people's lives. That's what it's all about."
His bill won preliminary approval, 124-16. Lawmakers who opposed the measure cited privacy and civil liberty concerns.
The House must take one more vote on Friday, and the Senate also must approve the legislation before the statewide ban on texting while driving takes effect on Sept. 1, 2011.
Craddick, a former House speaker, acknowledged that some critics fear that a ban against texting and driving could erode their rights.
But Craddick countered, "Driving is not a right. Driving is a responsibility and a privilege."
Citing research, Craddick said texting while driving is 20 times more dangerous than drunken driving.
Some Texas communities, including San Antonio, already have local ordinances banning the practice. A total of 30 states also have such bans.
The proposed statewide ban against texting is similar to San Antonio's ordinance. However, the statewide measure would allow motorists to read text messages and to send messages while stopped at traffic lights or stop signs - something the San Antonio ordinance prohibits.
Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, has pushed a statewide ban on texting while driving for several legislative sessions.
"It's important that the state have a (uniform) standard - just like standard seatbelt laws," Menendez said. "It also makes the state, as a whole, safer."
A texting-while-driving ban also will play an important role in driver education and training for teenage drivers, he said.
"That's the key, because they're the ones who are texting more than anybody," Menendez said.
He and Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, co-sponsored the bill.
Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, cast the only dissenting vote among Bexar County members.
"Basically, I like to see government stay out of people's lives," Larson said. "It's also an issue of enforcement. I don't see how they can adequately enforce that."
Larson also noted that drivers engage in many other types of distractions, such as eating food or applying makeup.
"I don't think we should allow the government to get into our lives to that degree," he said.
SOURCE
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Showing posts with label Texting while Driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texting while Driving. Show all posts
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Driving While Talking on Your Cell Phone Is Safe?
No matter how many times scientists, the Mythbusters, the government or even we bloggers tell you that driving while talking on the phone is dangerous, you just don't listen. So, why isn't the road littered with the shells of burned-out cars and the bodies of drive-time chatterboxes? A new study from economists Saurabh Bhargava, at the University of Chicago, and Vikram Pathania, of the London School of Economics, suggests that, while gabbing on your cell seems dangerous in a laboratory setting, it doesn't translate to real-world disaster.
The two researchers collected call data from a cell phone company, filtering for drivers' calls by looking for those that switched towers over an 11-day period in 2005. There should have been an increase in reported crashes during those spikes, and, yet, the researchers found none. They then expanded their research to cover more years and a wider area (the initial data being from California only), and still found no correlation between calls by drivers and reported accidents. The researchers have suggested that driving while talking on a cell phone may hinder some drivers, but may cause others to be more cautious.
Of course, the research is hardly definitive. There is no way for the researchers to identify the number of those drivers who were using hands-free devices, and there is an obvious correlation between downward trends in crashes and the increase of laws against talking on cell phones. Are the dangers of driving while on the phone overstated? Perhaps -- but we wouldn't consider this news as a license to drive around with your cell phone glued to your ear. Besides, it's still illegal.
SOURCE
The two researchers collected call data from a cell phone company, filtering for drivers' calls by looking for those that switched towers over an 11-day period in 2005. There should have been an increase in reported crashes during those spikes, and, yet, the researchers found none. They then expanded their research to cover more years and a wider area (the initial data being from California only), and still found no correlation between calls by drivers and reported accidents. The researchers have suggested that driving while talking on a cell phone may hinder some drivers, but may cause others to be more cautious.
Of course, the research is hardly definitive. There is no way for the researchers to identify the number of those drivers who were using hands-free devices, and there is an obvious correlation between downward trends in crashes and the increase of laws against talking on cell phones. Are the dangers of driving while on the phone overstated? Perhaps -- but we wouldn't consider this news as a license to drive around with your cell phone glued to your ear. Besides, it's still illegal.
SOURCE
Monday, December 20, 2010
Bill to ban cell phones while driving aimed at text-sending motorists
An Indiana lawmaker wants to stop motorists from texting, but to do so, he’s had to file a bill that would ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.
State Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said legislation he filed last week would make it easier for police to catch people sending text messages while they’re behind the wheel.
The bill would make it a Class C infraction to use a hand-held cell phone while driving and would give police “primary enforcement” — allowing them to pull over and ticket drivers without requiring any other traffic violation. Nine states have similar laws.
The bill would allow the use of Bluetooth devices or other “hands-free” technology on the cell phone. It would allow emergency calls to be made.
In 2009, Holdman authored the state’s graduated driver’s license law that prohibits teenage drivers, 18 and younger, from texting while driving.
He said his constituents have urged him to do more.
“The calls I’ve been getting are from young mothers,” Holdman said. “They say, ‘Will you do something so that my husband will quit texting while he’s driving?’”
Enforcing an anti-texting law is difficult, though. Holdman said law enforcement officials have told him it’s easier for police officers to spot a driver on a cell phone than it is to spot a driver sending text messages. Drivers who do so typically have their device in their lap and are using two hands to type in the message.
That’s what makes it so dangerous, as Holdman said. He cited a 2009 Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that showed texting drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds.
At that rate, a texting driver traveling 55 miles an hour would travel the length of a football field without ever looking up.
The anti-texting intent of the bill received support from Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and AT&T Indiana President George Fleetwood.
Both Zoeller and Fleetwood appeared at a press conference Thursday to push the message that driving and texting don’t mix.
Fleetwood explained why AT&T has launched a national campaign to promote that message: “Because people are dying while texting while driving,” Fleetwood said. “It’s a foolhardy practice at best. A lethal one at worst.”
Zoeller defended Holdman’s bill as an act of public safety. “This is not about personal liberty,’’ Zoeller said. “Texting while driving is entirely different from seat belt or motorcycle helmet laws and this prohibition does not infringe upon any individual rights.”
Driving while distracted by cell phones — talking or texting — appears to be a significant factor in collisions, according to some studies. The Indiana State Police reported 1,167 crashes, including four fatalities, in which “cell phone usage” was cited as a contributing factor.
“And those are the ones that drivers admit to,” Holdman said.
What kind of reception the bill will receive once the Indiana General Assembly is in session is hard to predict. Similar bills have been introduced but have failed to gain support needed for passage.
Holdman said motorists can act now, even before the bill gets a hearing, to increase safety by putting away their cell phones while driving. Holdman, Zoeller and Fleetwood said their family members have pressured them into doing so.
“It’s difficult when your cell phone rings. It’s hard not to pick it up,” said Holdman. “But you have to decide that it can wait.”
SOURCE
State Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said legislation he filed last week would make it easier for police to catch people sending text messages while they’re behind the wheel.
The bill would make it a Class C infraction to use a hand-held cell phone while driving and would give police “primary enforcement” — allowing them to pull over and ticket drivers without requiring any other traffic violation. Nine states have similar laws.
The bill would allow the use of Bluetooth devices or other “hands-free” technology on the cell phone. It would allow emergency calls to be made.
In 2009, Holdman authored the state’s graduated driver’s license law that prohibits teenage drivers, 18 and younger, from texting while driving.
He said his constituents have urged him to do more.
“The calls I’ve been getting are from young mothers,” Holdman said. “They say, ‘Will you do something so that my husband will quit texting while he’s driving?’”
Enforcing an anti-texting law is difficult, though. Holdman said law enforcement officials have told him it’s easier for police officers to spot a driver on a cell phone than it is to spot a driver sending text messages. Drivers who do so typically have their device in their lap and are using two hands to type in the message.
That’s what makes it so dangerous, as Holdman said. He cited a 2009 Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that showed texting drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds.
At that rate, a texting driver traveling 55 miles an hour would travel the length of a football field without ever looking up.
The anti-texting intent of the bill received support from Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and AT&T Indiana President George Fleetwood.
Both Zoeller and Fleetwood appeared at a press conference Thursday to push the message that driving and texting don’t mix.
Fleetwood explained why AT&T has launched a national campaign to promote that message: “Because people are dying while texting while driving,” Fleetwood said. “It’s a foolhardy practice at best. A lethal one at worst.”
Zoeller defended Holdman’s bill as an act of public safety. “This is not about personal liberty,’’ Zoeller said. “Texting while driving is entirely different from seat belt or motorcycle helmet laws and this prohibition does not infringe upon any individual rights.”
Driving while distracted by cell phones — talking or texting — appears to be a significant factor in collisions, according to some studies. The Indiana State Police reported 1,167 crashes, including four fatalities, in which “cell phone usage” was cited as a contributing factor.
“And those are the ones that drivers admit to,” Holdman said.
What kind of reception the bill will receive once the Indiana General Assembly is in session is hard to predict. Similar bills have been introduced but have failed to gain support needed for passage.
Holdman said motorists can act now, even before the bill gets a hearing, to increase safety by putting away their cell phones while driving. Holdman, Zoeller and Fleetwood said their family members have pressured them into doing so.
“It’s difficult when your cell phone rings. It’s hard not to pick it up,” said Holdman. “But you have to decide that it can wait.”
SOURCE
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
The lurking danger of driving while texting
Alex Brown was a young, pretty, West Texas teenage girl with a rich life ahead of her. A quick sequence of events led to her lying in a field - dying.
The 17-year-old's death just over a year ago led to a crusade by her parents to encourage students to buckle up and stop texting.
Jeanne and Johnny Mac Brown travel to high schools around Texas to spread the message, and Tuesday they stopped for an assembly at Navasota High School.
Alex Brown was a senior at Seagraves High School, which is about an hour and a half southwest of Lubbock. Brown was ranked second in her class, but her college credits would have moved her to valedictorian by the end of the year and she would have had enough credits to be a sophomore in college the day she graduated high school.
"She was a good kid," Jeanne told the students at Navasota. "She loved people, no matter who they were or what they were. Everybody loved her."
On Nov. 10, 2009, Alex was running late for one of her college classes because she spent too much time on Facebook that morning, Jeanne said. That led to Alex scrambling so she wouldn't be TOO late for class. She took the more dangerous route to school - the route her parents always discouraged her to take.
Alex didn't buckle her seat belt. And then, while simultaneously carrying on text message conversations with four different friends, her pick-up truck spun out of control and crashed. Alex was thrown from her vehicle into a field. She just laid there, fading into consciousness and back out again, quickly leaving this world.
The state trooper who investigated that accident said that Alex was driving 70 miles per hour before she spun.
The Brown family followed Alex to an emergency room in Lubbock, where Alex died shortly thereafter.
The cell phone was still in the truck - and it still worked. Friends who had heard about the wreck continued to send messages to the phone. Those messages said to hang in there, and that they would come visit her in the hospital. Jeanne held Alex's phone up during Tuesday's assembly for the students to see.
SOURCE
The 17-year-old's death just over a year ago led to a crusade by her parents to encourage students to buckle up and stop texting.
Jeanne and Johnny Mac Brown travel to high schools around Texas to spread the message, and Tuesday they stopped for an assembly at Navasota High School.
Alex Brown was a senior at Seagraves High School, which is about an hour and a half southwest of Lubbock. Brown was ranked second in her class, but her college credits would have moved her to valedictorian by the end of the year and she would have had enough credits to be a sophomore in college the day she graduated high school.
"She was a good kid," Jeanne told the students at Navasota. "She loved people, no matter who they were or what they were. Everybody loved her."
On Nov. 10, 2009, Alex was running late for one of her college classes because she spent too much time on Facebook that morning, Jeanne said. That led to Alex scrambling so she wouldn't be TOO late for class. She took the more dangerous route to school - the route her parents always discouraged her to take.
Alex didn't buckle her seat belt. And then, while simultaneously carrying on text message conversations with four different friends, her pick-up truck spun out of control and crashed. Alex was thrown from her vehicle into a field. She just laid there, fading into consciousness and back out again, quickly leaving this world.
The state trooper who investigated that accident said that Alex was driving 70 miles per hour before she spun.
The Brown family followed Alex to an emergency room in Lubbock, where Alex died shortly thereafter.
The cell phone was still in the truck - and it still worked. Friends who had heard about the wreck continued to send messages to the phone. Those messages said to hang in there, and that they would come visit her in the hospital. Jeanne held Alex's phone up during Tuesday's assembly for the students to see.
SOURCE
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