Driving While inTEXTicated is Dangerous

by: Thomas R. Burnside, III
Texting while driving is not illegal in most states, but it should be. It is dangerous and there are things we can do to keep it from happening. I heard a story—reportedly a true one—that goes like this. “Back in the day” when things were a little more relaxed, three lawyers and a blind judge were leaving a Christmas party. The lawyers were all too drunk to drive and the judge, a teetotaler, was—you guessed it—sober as a judge. They convinced the judge it was safer for him to drive so he climbed behind the wheel and headed slowly down the road. Imagine, the blind judge grasping the wheel and the three drunks urging “a little right” or “a little left” as they went. Needless to say, they bumped the car up pretty good but they made it most of the way home before being pulled over. When the police office questioned them the judge responded that while there were many laws against drunk driving he had searched the statutes and found none which specifically forbid blind people from driving. They all had a good laugh and the police officer drove them home! Boy how things have changed. So what is the point? First, just because it is not against the law does not make it safe. Second, it is hard to drive without your eyes on the road. Text messaging while driving is dangerous. It requires you to focus both your eyes and your attention away from the road. It is also prevalent, especially among teens. Some 46% of teenage drivers admitted to driving while text messaging in a recent study by Seventeen magazine. It can be deadly too. Many people have been killed and seriously injured in car wrecks caused by drivers who were texting. For just one example of the human consequences associated with driving while intexticated, go to: http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/intexticated.asp It is simply tragic to think of the loss of life caused by this practice, especially since most of the information exchanged is pretty senseless. Is it really worth risking life and limb to send “LOL to your BF”? Come on, this should be illegal in every state, but it is not. Currently, only 8 states ban texting while driving entirely, while 9 others ban the practice only by novice drivers under certain ages. We (including Georgia) need to lobby our state legislatures to ban this practice entirely. If you are still not convinced, consider this…especially you parents. Wrecks by teenagers cause insurance premiums to skyrocket. In addition, under some circumstances parents can be held liable for negligent entrustment of a family vehicle to an irresponsible driver. Oh, your child is not an irresponsible driver? What about the fact he/she sends 5000 text messages each month, many of which are clearly sent while he/she is driving to and from school. Checked the bill lately? Think you could be held liable if you attached a typewriter to the dashboard so she could type English essays while driving? That is basically what is happening, although the literary value of her texts leaves a little to be desired. I bet the jury would consider it a failure on your part to exercise reasonable care, and they could tag you with a big judgment. So what can you do? Simple. Block text messaging from your child’s phone when they turn 16. Who knows, it may even save you some money. If they need to talk to someone, they can still call which is dangerous enough but not nearly as bad. I think they will survive without text messaging… and I know more of us will.