Should Driving a Vehicle While Text Messaging Be Considered a Felony?
Should driving a vehicle while texting be a criminal activity? – The public has grown to be increasingly more aware about the hazards of texting while behind the wheel, because of health and safety research and incredibly published distracted-driver incidents. The importance of cell phone use as a contributing factor to a car accident is that mobile phone use is accepted as a sort of diminished capacity. Just like the legal rights of victims of auto accidents attributed to drunk motorists, victims of distracted-driver accidents can have the legal right to try to get punitive damages from the liable driver.
Individuals who text and drive are exposing many people to severe potential for harm… even loss of life. Were you aware that you may be 4 times more likely to experience an automotive accident while on your cell phone? Kids txt messaging while driving a motor vehicle are eight times more likely to experience an accident. Actually, this statistic is for adults and could be much higher for new drivers. A number of wireless-industry proponents conisder that laws blocking texting while driving are far too particular. What is needed, they’re saying, is not narrowly focused legislation, but a campaign to teach the general public about just about all motorist distractions. In Washington, D.C., an industry lobby organization called CTIA — The Wireless Association has started monitoring legislation, such as McDonald’s bill, and scratching out an approach to get around it.
Numerous areas in the U.S. have prohibited getting behind the wheel while texting. Additionally, cities and counties have likewise introduced regulation in opposition to texting and driving a car. And it’s no surprise this pattern has been attracting an out-sized share of press interest lately. It’s plain dangerous. When individuals take their attention off the road to look at and type replies on a mobile device, they are surely, for a handful of seconds each time, in no way driving the vehicle. This implies no one is operating the vehicle. It takes only an instant of diversion to end ones own life or without cause take the life of a family or someone’s dad, mother, sister, brother driving close by. A large number of the jurisdictions that have not put into law legislation against all texting and driving have made it against the law for newbie vehicle operators. In some of these places the ban can extend to those 18 years old or younger. In others the ban is extended to those 21 years and younger.
Research into this fact does paints a fairly clear picture. There are very real dangers connected to texting while driving. This research clearly shows that the chances of crashing your car while texting is double the amount more so than just than conversing on a cell phone. A very strong indicator that driving and texting do not mix at all well together. The research that Drews and colleagues did in 2009 does attest to this truth very well. The conclusion that Drews arrived at was that texting in itself did have a big negative impact on driving performance that is simulated. The negative impact of texting while driving was far more severe than if a person were just talking on a cell phone while driving.
In the past couple of years we have seen various sweeping changes in state law as well as safety laws for vehicles and drivers. Roughly a dozen states approved laws against texting and driving in the U.S. There’s also been a resurgence in seat belt safety awareness and young adult driver safety programs. 3A Public Affairs VP, Kathleen Marvaso indicated that 3A is regularly working together with state governments across the U.S. to draft and pass laws that can make our roadways a lot less hazardous.
The txtResponsibly.org group has been working since 2009 to call public awareness to the expanding crisis of texting and driving a car as well as the serious problems it presents to drivers sharing the road. The group attended the recent Distracted Driving Summit in Washington DC in the Fall and were on hand to hear state and federal lawmakers along with statisticians and health and safety agencies examine and argue parameters for pending legislation.
