To Text, or Not to Text?
By Bella Nalle | January 24, 2012
Do you use your phone while you drive? Perhaps you might Tweet to pass the time, something like @DistractedDriver says “Take San Vicente! #iMissMyBicycle”, while drinking your low-fat Belwood mocha with an extra shot?
Although these infractions may seem harmless, especially when paralyzed by gridlock, getting caught for these moving violations will impact your debit account this year! That’s why I’m here to warn you about the new crackdowns on distracted drivers.
The Los Angeles Times recently posted an article about the severity of disobeying the already set law of using your phone without a hands-free device while driving; however, this law will now be extended to all commercial drivers.
I am one of the 46% of teens who admit to having texted whilst driving, but I only did it when I believed it was a time of urgency, i.e. approaching curfew, and when I had come to a complete stop on the road. However, my New Year’s resolution is to adhere to the law rather than spending my allowance on texting tickets.
I really wasn’t aware of the dangers of not using a hands-free device while driving until I did my own research and found that there are 6,000 fatalities per year due to distracted drivers. According to KTLA online, officials are trying to enforce a zero tolerance for other offenses, including applying make up, reading, or eating behind the wheel. If in effect, this law will considerably impact teenagers.
I polled a couple of Westside teens with regard to how they felt about the possibility of these new laws. Marian Maile (17, Archer School) stated that texting while driving was “just as bad as driving drunk because you are handicapping yourself by completely taking your eyes off the road. Unfortunately, I do feel that this rule is very easy to get around.”
Alex Jacobson (17, Brentwood resident) gave us a contrarian view: “While I’m onboard with the ethical notion of the distracted driving ban, I cannot see it being enforceable. The speed at which we all live requires us to eat breakfast on the run, and to check in with parents when asked. In our multitasking society, how can we condense our car time to the sole purpose of driving?”
I think it’s also safe to say that the majority of messages one communicates while driving is simply to let others know their movements. [Or in the case of Sunset Boulevard, the lack thereof.]
My generation might actually have to crack open our car owner’s manual and finally figure out how to activate Bluetooth.
Maybe since these restrictions will no longer allow us to convey that we are tardy, etc. we will be forced to be more conscientious of our schedules.
But what is currently normal can change, because our mindsets will have to alter. And of course, we will now have to use phones for their original purpose of actually talking to one another… until that becomes banned, too.
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Comments to date: 1. Page 1 of 1. Average Rating:  Erik Wood
Seattle, WA | 2:25pm on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 | I think legislation has value in raising public awareness in forums like this one but it will be difficult to solely legislate our way out of this issue. I just read that over 3/4 of teens text daily - many text more than 4000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook - even with their professors. Tweens (ages 9 -12) send texts to each other from their bikes. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.
I decided to do something about distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool called OTTER that is a simple GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. It also silences call ringtones while driving unless you have a bluetooth enabled. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app |
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