subject: Texting and Driving [print this page] As of September 1st in Texas, new state laws prohibit drivers under 18 from using a cellphone to talk or text while driving anywhere, and bar all Texas drivers from using cellphones in a school zone.
The government and safety groups are looking for ways to address the distractions and to set the stage for finding ways to eliminate texting while driving.. Texting has increasingly become the way to communicate for many people, and the urge to quickly read and respond even while driving can be tempting.
With more drivers talking or texting on cell phones while behind the wheel, the Obama administration is taking its first hard look at highway hazards with an eye toward potential new restrictions on using mobile devices while driving.
Dialing a cellphone and using or reaching for an electronic device increased risk of collision about six times in cars and trucks.
AT&T unveiled several initiatives to dissuade people from texting behind the wheel, including expressly prohibiting its employees from texting while driving, putting warning messages on the peel-off plastic covers on new phones and producing public service announcements.
Researchers have found that when drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater. A dramatized educational video that shows the gruesome results of a car accident caused by a distracted, texting teen driver has been viewed millions of times on YouTube. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws making texting while driving illegal, and seven states and the district have banned driving while talking on a handheld cellphone.
Democrats introduced legislation that would require states to ban texting or e-mailing while operating a moving vehicle or lose twenty-five percent of their annual federal highway finding. Today its common to see people texting and driving and using cellphones and driving everywhere you go, even in places where it's outlawed as it is in Washington, D.C.
