Wonder of wonders! The NC Legislature took the hint from the US Department of Transportation and they have instituted a Texting while Driving ban. (The News and Record has bizarre priorities--they mixed in new reptile laws with a story on the new distracted drving law). As has been noted before, this new law won't do much in itself to stop distracted driving as it will be somewhat difficult to enforce. What it will do however, is make the more serious offenses that distracted driving produces easier to prosecute. If an officer/DA suspects the person may have been texting they need only subpoena the transaction records from the device provider to establish the truth of the matter. With distracted driving proved, this opens up the options for prosecuting the consequences of the distracted driving such as vehicular homicide. Hopefully there will be some active enforcement of this law to raise awareness and we can see the crash levels fall as people do what they are supposed to doing when behind the wheel, driving.
On Yer Bike!
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A simple and easy to use mobile application with capability to read out messages helps me in concentrating more on my work. I use drivesafe.ly mobile application.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are driving the only work you have is driving. So called multitasking is only time sharing. When you start sharing your attention you dramatically increase your crash risk.
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent post. You've gotten right to the heart of the matter concerning the law's function. Though some may deride it as merely symbolic or unneccessary, 'feel-good' legislation, it is important for lawmakers to take a stand regarding texting while driving.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, the hefty fine will make more people think twice about texting behind the wheel. Another solution is ZoomSafer, which automatically locks your phone's keypad so you can't text or email. Best of all, it's free at www.zoomsafer.com - much cheaper reason to stop texting while driving than learning the hard way with a $50 ticket, or worse, a nasty accident.