Distracted Driving A Real Danger
Half of All Fatalities Due to Distractions
Frightened teen driver, growing driver outrage and New Jersey enacts text-messaging law last week - a deep concern about 'distracted driving' is gaining traction.
Texting While Driving 'Pretty Scary'
New teen driver Kyle Jones, 16, can tap out a text message and send it without looking at his cell phone. He demonstrates by doing it with his eyes closed.
"Kids text message while driving and without looking at their cell phones all the time," he says. "They do it underneath the steering wheel. It's pretty scary, actually."
Jones swears he has never sent a text message while driving, but he's been in cars when other teens have done it. He says these young drivers are so swift with their fingers that they can create and send a text message within 10-15 seconds.
“Most try to do it at stoplights but they do it on I-95 too,” says Jones, a junior at Boca Community High School in Boca Raton, Florida, during an interview October 29, 2007. “I don’t know anyone who’s been in an accident – but yeah, it’s a really dangerous distraction….kids do it anyway.”
Bad Drivers Hot Topic
Jones may be a young driver, but he joins the growing ranks of new teen drivers, parents and experienced drivers who are both spooked and outraged by the rise in "distracted driving" like text messaging behind the wheel.
In the cellphone age, their concern is for good reason – more than 40,000 people are killed in vehicle crashes each year, with half of those because of distracted drivers, according to a Rapid Journal report (November 4, 2007) and survey in which readers sounded off about bad drivers.
Driving and eating food, talking on the phone, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, make-out sessions and having kids sit in a driver’s lap were some of the most dangerous and common “distractions” mentioned by drivers.
Cell phone use, from talking to text messaging, was considered among the worst offenses, however.
"A family member was sleeping on the passenger side with her daughter driving at 75 mph on I-90. She awoke to find said daughter steering with her knees while text messaging a friend. Needless to say, daughter lost her driving privileges immediately," reported one reader.
New Jersey Enacts Anti-Text-Messaging Law
As part of the growing reaction to distracted driving, the state of New Jersey this past week signed a ban on text messaging while driving – punishable by $100 fine. Other states have done the same.
The law makes text messaging while driving a primary offense, along with talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device.
The ban goes into effect March 1, 2008 – however, enforcement remains a problematic issue, since its difficult for law officers to see text messaging going on, especially when teen drivers can do it without looking at the cellphone.
Still, New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, who co-sponsored the legislation, say the ban should make New Jersey roads safer to drive.
In New Jersey, drivers are allowed to text-message from their vehicles -- without risking a fine -- in the case of emergencies such as a roadside accident or if drivers believe they are in imminent danger.
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