American Morning
Senators push nationwide ban on texting while driving
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/30/art.textingban.gi.jpg caption="A law that went into effect January 1 in California makes it illegal to send text messages while driving."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Four senators pushed for a bill Wednesday to ban texting while driving, a day after a study found that drivers who text while on the road are much more likely to have an accident than undistracted drivers.
Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-New York; Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey; Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana; and Kay Hagan, D-North Carolina, unveiled the ALERT Act, which would ban truck and car drivers and operators of mass transit from texting while driving.
The proposed legislation would prohibit any driver from sending text or e-mail messages while driving a vehicle, said an earlier news release from the senators.
If the bill passes, the Department of Transportation would set the minimum standards for compliance.
States that do not enact text-banning laws within two years of the bill's passage could lose 25 percent of their federal highway funds, Schumer said in a news conference announcing the legislation. The noncompliant states could recuperate that money once they meet the text-banning standards, Schumer said.
CTIA, a cellular phone industry group, said that it supports legislation that addresses text messaging while driving.
"CTIA and our member companies continue to believe text messaging while driving is incompatible with safe driving," said a statement on CTIA's Web site.
Fourteen states, including the home states of three of the bill's sponsors, and the District of Columbia already have laws barring texting while driving: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
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lou adams
watch out don't come here to Lex. Just sit still and watch the police go by with one hand on the wheel and the other occupied with a cell phone.
OMG!!! I seen a police officer with one hand on the wheel, and the other holding a cig out the window , can you imagine? I swear !!!
I bout freaked!!!!!!!!!!
One of these days, here in Lex, a police officer is going to cause a serious accident.
I think police Chiefs should tell these police officers, we are going to look at your cell phone statements, and if we see that when you were marked in your vehicle as patroling, and then see also a cooresponding time you were using your cell phone, and if we ask you about it, and you lie, then they get fired. I an kind of stating that some police officers lie. YEP they sure do.
So something like this would have to be an internal investigation, meaning the officers would be boxed in first, then questioned about the activity, and if they lie, they get fired, put them on a polygraph probably save a lot of time and money, But hard facts like a paper trail would be something that would substantiate in a court of law, some police officers would be stupid enough to fight being fired for driving with one hand on the wheel while the other hand is up to their ear with a cell phone. And besides the fact, if a police officer wrecks, they get pension while being hurt on duty, WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ON A Fre***** cell phone while driving, or maybe smoking-YEA....right
hey i was almost hit head on my a West Virginia State trooper who was texting.
He had his right hand on the steering wheel, and left hand holding his cell phone, with his left elbow resting on the window trim, his window was down. He came left of center, across the double yellow lines, and run me off the road, HE KEPT ON GOING.
I seen a Lexington, KY female police officer talkin on her cell phone and driving at the same time. Everybody on the bus seen her. It looked horrible. She was making a left turn. (she had dark hair) and when she made the left turn, she took her left hand and used her left hand to grab the steering wheel to turn, her cell phone was is her right hand. It looked bad for the police department. We all on the bus seen that it was a personal telephone call, because whoever she was talking to was making her laught, boy......she was having a good old time. But how irresponsible she was being in operating the police cruiser, i hope someone else from Lex reads this, and realizes the danger law enforcement puts citizens in when they -the police drive while texting.
Maybe the chief of Lexington police department should check all the officers cell phone records to see if they are driving with on hand on the wheel while having a cell phone in the other hand-driving while talking on a cell phone. COME ON LEXINGTON GET WITH IT--OUTLAW DRIVING WHILE TEXTING______and don't forget to tell the police officers this means them too!!! same goes for you-West Virginia, one of your troopers nearly killed me. It also happened to my sister. What is the problem WV? What is the problem Lex KY?
Get it together.
By the way, cell phones aren't the only problem with these idiots. Ever see a man with a map spread out across his steering wheel, going down a multilane interstate highway, while reading it? Or another man with a book, appeared to be a textbook, open on his steering wheel, reading while driving! I saw both!
I drive a truck for my job, and for our personal vehicles, my husband and I own a Ford Taurus and an F150. But I don't care if I was in the Freightliner, way bigger than anybody around me, it would scare me to death to look over and see someone typing away on that little keyboard on my cell phone! Anyone caught doing that, either texting or email, should be fined , and very heavy, as in the several hundred dollar zone. And if a second time, do just like with a drunk driver, since they have been proven to be worse, increase punishment each time, leading up to lose of license.
Texting whle driving or operating any machinery, should be legally banned!!
To Lisa, who feels comfortable "texting on country roads"
The severe accident that led to the law banning texting while driving in the counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, and Wayne in NY was in the country on roads where the speed limit is 55. Four out of five teenagers were killed.
@ Bernice ~~ I agree with you 100%. It's hard enough to be driving defensively, without some idiot slamming into you while texting!
I am very opposed to doing anything while driving, including talking on a cell phone, texting, or even taking your eyes off the road and hands off the wheel to change CD's, tune in different radio stations, or try to discipline children. I am 55 and have been involved in two car accidents in my driving career. Neither of the accidents was caused by my driving, but rather were caused by other drivers who were trying to do more that one thing while driving. Operating a motor vehicle is a privilege, not a right. When drivers do not understand the consequences of car accidents–which certainly include the possibility of the death or disabilty of an innocent person, then drivers who are responsible for accidents should suffer severe penalties–at the very least, the loss of their license to drive for a period of time and more education about the importance of being alert to every other vehicle on the road. Thanks for the chance to sound off!
First of all people need to drive slower. The speed limit should decrease by 10mph then implement driving while texting bcuz people drive to fast anyway and causes more accidents. I drive to work everyday @ 55 mph and make it to work as the same time as someone driving 70mph. I'm just saying.
On a personal note: Every close call (near accident) I've had while driving was with someone using a cell phone. I don't text or talk when I drive, no phone call is that important that I should risk my life. I need all my attention to watch out for the person using their phone, Lord knows they are not watching where they are going!(I bet the next close call you have involves a cell phone)
I feel comfortable texting on outer roads/country roads and consider myself a safe driver. I keep a good distance between the car in front of me and don't speed! However, I find it harder to concentrate on the road when I am signing and driving. I teach Sign Language free through my church small groups to the community for those with an interest in or have a need to learn (we have had families in need because insurance won't pay for parents to learn the language but will pay for diagnosis of the childs hearing) and often advise my students not to drive and sign! This fall when I teach I will use the comparisons of texting/drunk driving and add signing in there as well, it is very hard to concentrate on fast fingers and drive!
Ban it!!! There is NO need to be txting while driving....EVER!
Something needs to be done to control texting & the use of cell phones while driving but how do you really monitor & enforce this issue? I drive a school bus during the school year and see many law enforcement officers in their patrol cars doing the same thing they say others are doing that cause accidents. Law enforcement should be setting an example to the general public in the use of cell phones in cars as well. I have observed an officer driving thru a stop sign and almost hitting another vehicle while on his cell phone. Is this officer exempt from liability just because he is a police officer?
The driver of a vehicle should be watching the traffic. Period. No phones, no texts, no smoking, no putting on lipstick, just driving.
The first thing my father told me when I got behind the wheel of a car way back when I was 17 was that a car can kill a person. It is dangerous when used improperly. This is common sense. Why intelligent people can't see this puzzles me.
I laugh when I see studies being done to show texting causes accidents from non-attentive drivers. This should be so obvious to anyone with a driver's license, no study needed!
I steer clear of drivers that I see texting. I can often tell by the driving I see that someone is not paying attention, and when I finally pass this person, it proves to be they are looking at a phone, and not at the road. Acting stupidly...in the parlance of our times!
I wish there were some way to report these folks to the traffic police.
Yes I am guilty!!! A year a go I was driving at 60mph while i was texting, I almost slammed in to another car. I will never do that again! It was one of the scariest of my life.
As a resident of the state of New York , I think that it's a good idea to ban texting while driving. Hand held cell phone use is also illegal in this state, but one can stand on James St. in the city of Syracsue and see that 11 of 20 drivers on the road are using hand held cell phones while driving. I've even seen an Onondaga sheriff using one while driving. I've also seen police pass those using their cell phones while driving and not even notice what they are doing, and if they do, they are not concerned enough to enforce the law.
If one can't depend on law enforcement to obey the laws what hope does one have in thinking that these laws are going to do any good?
I used to text and drive, and I drove pretty fast in Florida. Never once got into an accident until I found out I was pregnant. My baby changed everything for me before it was too late. I believe cell phone use while driving should be banned or at least be restricted as much as possible.
Folks of all societies all over the world get CNN on satalitte TV – now they know that democracy guantees American voters about to make a monumental economic decision on health care – also have to be reminded not to type letters to their friends while driving an automobile.
This happens more than is reported. Just yesterday I was turning out of my appartment parking lot when I saw a Post Office mail truck driving irratically, creeping in and out of my lane. I passed the truck and looked in my rear view to find the postal worker was texting while driving. Mail trucks having a right side drive is already difficult. I hope they make texting while driving VERY illegal and VERY expensive.
Christy
I am from England where any hand-held cell phone while driving has been banned for many years. If you have an accident there while using a cell phone the insurance companies normally refuse to pay for any of your damage.
Why should we coming up with more laws to prevent cell phone use. America is supposed to be land of the free! Why can't we use our ideas to come with technologies to better assist drivers instead, that enables multitasking, afterall, we pay for our services, there shouldn't be a law that prohibits us from using them.
I write a weekly column in a publication called The Webb Weekly in Williamsport, PA. Two months ago I wrote an article titled: Driving While InTEXTicated. In this article, I provided my readers with examples of how dangerous this new phenomenon is. I felt this article was timely, in the since that the subject made national news the day after my column was in circulation. Thank you for being on the same page I'm on and have been on for some time now.