Texting & Driving Law in Effect Today

[Tim Kelley]

So what previous anti-drunk driving and anti-littering campaigns successful in the past?

[eminva]

@Tim Kelley 56868 wrote:

So what previous anti-drunk driving and anti-littering campaigns successful in the past?

Don’t mess with Texas.

Liz

[Tim Kelley]

@eminva 56870 wrote:

Don’t mess with Texas.

Liz

Who knew that was for litter? I always thought it was just my college roommate from Austin undeservedly having a too-big of an ego over being from Texas.

[txgoonie]

The Crying Indian from the Keep America Beautiful Campaign

[rcannon100]

Successful public service safety campaigns from the past? Well…

and of course there is the wildly popular

[Terpfan]

@dasgeh 56862 wrote:

There’s also value in it just being illegal. It means it will be taught in driver’s ed and will be on tests. It means our collective societal judgment is that this action is dangerous. I fully recognize that not enough drivers on the road have to re-test and take real drivers’ education. But every little bit helps.

I think one major problem with texting while driving is that lots of people really don’t think it’s dangerous. They think that _they_ are great drivers and can handle taking their eyes off the road. Besides, they think they don’t take their eyes off the road for too long. It used to be similar with drunk driving (or still is, with some) — “I know I can handle driving after 3 drinks”. As a society, we have to chip away at this attitude, and make people realize driving a multiton box of steel is a big responsibility that should not be taken lightly (or done while texting). As much as I’d like to, it’s not going to happen overnight. Every chip helps.

The key words to me were: “people realize driving a multiton box of steel is a big responsibility that should not be taken lightly (or done while texting).” But I would switch “while texting” to “while distracted.” The news now says texting is illegal, but this seems to imply to a lot of people that other distractions are legal when they are not. What should be taught is the act of the distraction behind the multiton box of steel is a deadly game of russian roulette–the question is when, not if something will happen.

For instance, I know many people who have attempted to convince me they’re safe drivers because they use hands-free devices when making calls while driving. Once upon another career, I dealt with some of these issues and saw study data. Sure accident incident rates were slightly higher when someone manually held the phone, but it was the distraction of the conversation that was the bigger problem.

[jabberwocky]

Its hard to argue that drunk driving awareness and laws haven’t made a difference; the rate of drunk driving deaths today is less than half what it was in 1980, and its a heavily stigmatized activity (whereas it was commonplace prior to 1980, and not really considered a big deal).

[PotomacCyclist]

I did a quick, informal survey early this year when I was riding in a taxi during rush hour one morning. As I was crossing the 14th St. Bridge, I decided to look at drivers in other cars and trucks to see how many of them were texting/websurfing while behind the wheel. I think it was 7 out of the first 20 drivers that I counted, who were texting/websurfing/fiddling around with their phones. While that’s hardly a comprehensive survey, it fits with my general everyday experience when I’m walking or riding in the area. When I approach an intersection as a pedestrian or cyclist, I keep an eye out on the drivers of nearby cars. Experience has shown that at least 15-25% of them will be texting/websurfing as they approach the intersection. Other drivers will pull into or drive out of parking spaces and parking lots while texting, not even bothering to look for oncoming car traffic, let alone bike traffic.

As for the survey on the 14th St. Bridge, that ended very strangely. As we approached East Potomac Park, the taxi driver had an urgent need to get something out of the glove compartment. He was buckled into his seat belt so he had a difficult time reaching over to the passenger side. This is while he was driving. I thought that maybe he needed to find a paper map or a taxi company form, or something. Nope. He grabbed a small tube of hand lotion and then applied it to his hands, still while driving. Before I got in the taxi, he had been standing on a sidewalk chatting with other taxi drivers. Couldn’t he have used hand lotion then? It’s not as though he were just returning from a 90-minute trip. I told him politely but sternly that getting a tube of hand lotion is not a good reason to be reaching over to a glove compartment while driving a car. (Not sure if there are any good reasons for reaching over like that, unless it were some odd emergency situation.)

So fully one third of all the drivers that morning on the bridge were texting or reaching into glove compartments to get hand lotion. And then people complain and wonder about why there are so many traffic accidents. The distracted driving and accidents foul up the commute for everyone. It also contributes to all of the traffic deaths in the area (and across the U.S. and worldwide). Hopefully the new law will help to decrease such behavior and make life safer for everyone, including drivers as well as cyclists and pedestrians.

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