A ban on text-messaging while driving could be a tough sell in a state such as South Carolina, which only recently allowed police to ticket motorists for not buckling up.
But advocates of making it illegal to send text messages while behind the wheel say a ban might be possible if it’s sold as a way to cut car insurance rates and to save on health care costs.
Bill Windsor, safety officer for Nationwide Insurance, admitted that such a ban might be hard to get into law in the state, despite a new survey commissioned by the company that shows eight in 10 drivers support legislation that would put restrictions on texting and talking on phones while driving.
A year ago or so, we had three sad cases of young women dying in accidents in our county – one a week for three weeks. Accident reconstruction revealed that all three had been texting at the time of their accidents.
I wonder what would happen if the laws on health insurance, disablity SS, and so were amended so that if you were not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle, if you were texting while driving, if you smoked, if you were above a certain BMI, etc – then you lost all benefits, or received substantially reduced support. There are elements of our health we cannot control, and none of can prevent some idiot from hurting us – but there are definitely things we can do to reduce risk, and we should be encouraged to do so, not subsidized for making poor decisions.
Most states have a “full time and attention given to driving” clause in their driving statutes. It is probably time to dust that off and try it in court. I think a driver would have a hard time convincing a judge that full time and attention was being given to driving while sending text messages or perhaps even using a cell phone.
I recently bought a Bluetooth earpiece, and I use it for receiving…..not placing…..phone calls while I’m on the road. The CHP was given instructions to ticket every motorist found using a cell phone while driving, but using a Bluetooth device is apparently legal, since it’s hands-free. This law is virtually unenforceable, and people are going to continue to violate it. I understand why texting while driving is so bad; it’s downright [i]dangerous[/i], and it [i]should[/i] be illegal. The point is that people are still going to do it. Another point: If doing this is illegal, [i] why isn’t talking or listening to the radio also illegal [/i] while you’re driving?
I just can’t believe people think they can text and drive:(