Here's what I'd like to know - since the inception of the text message, has the accident rate in the USA actually increased? A quick search on the NHTSA website shows that both the number of fatal accidents and the rate of fatal accidents per miles traveled in 2009 were the lowest number in 15 years, well before the text message.

The fact is, as long as you have people driving cars you are going to have accidents. As long as our DMVs are willing to give anyone with a pulse a driver's license, you are going to have lots of accidents. If it's not a text message it is some other form of stupidity distracting an already bad driver and causing an accident. As usual the government is addressing a symptom to try and show action, instead of addressing the root cause.

Years ago I did a high school paper comparing the fatality rate on the German Autobahn with the fatality rate on the US Interstate system. Despite our interstates then being limited to 65 MPH and much of the Autobahn being unlimited (at the time), the fatality rates were nearly identical. Research indicated that much of the credit was due to the higher standards in Germany to earn a driver's license.

But God forbid we fix the issue at hand. Lets put laws on the books that allow the police to fine you based on a visual observation and not require any proof on their part. Lets give the police another open-ended excuse to pull over drivers. Lets allow further government invasion into our privacy by allowing them to browse through the personal information on our phones and phone records. The government is here to help, right?:rolleyes:

Over a year approximately 2,000 teens die from texting while driving.

Texting while driving killed at least 16,000 in US - Autos & Trends

Texting and Driving Greatly Increases Accidents, Study Shows - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Mobile phones and driving safety - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Texting while driving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here here! I don't text and drive, but leave my damn phone and car alone.

What about eating and driving.....we are all guilty of that and it is just as bad.

I'm sure many on this board can do a lot more than a younger, more inexperienced driver. And you are right that more laws are not always a better answer. But, when they started making laws, we didn't have the problems we face today.

What am I saying? Well, I like the thought put forth that the onus is on the providers of such devices that distract.

Young inexperienced drivers probably shouldn't hold a conversation while driving. In CA, they are not permitted to have passengers for a period of probationary driving.

I have missed off ramps I intended to get off because of babbling away. Sure, we all have different levels of attention skills. I think of OTR truck drivers with all the crap in the cab and they do a pretty good job.

But when little Tammy Texter slams into the side of me and puts me out of work (more so than I am) because she wasn't paying attetion, or had no attention left to pay, I'm going to bring this up again.

And when you get tagged, let me know how you still feel (those that seem to think phones and cars go along together). Personally, I think Pandora's Box got opened when manufacturers enabled blue tooth.

I know over on the 911 tech board drivers often tout driving listening to the music of a flat six. I drive everything without the radio or phone. One too many times I did not hear an emergency vehicle with the AC on high and the radio going.

This is so true, people can't even walk and text properly, looking at a tiny screen and bumping into people. I think fines should be expensive and your phone should be taken away and there should be a long and boring (40 hrs.) course on safe driving for these offenses, maybe I'm jaded but thats cause I've been hit by a young woman when she was talking on the phone.
Finn

"BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY!" sensationalist media reports are pretty common in our society, dating to well before d-bags like Ralph Nader. But lets look at the facts. The number one killer of teens is car accidents, and has been for decades. I have three kids and am terrified about them reaching driving age, but it's not because of text messaging. I did a lot of stupid crap as a 16 year old with a car, and I didn't even have a cell phone. One of the many things that I will preach to my kids is to focus on the task at hand, and I will come down hard on them if they don't. It's on me (parent) as well as my teen (responsible party) to teach driver safety, not the govt.

I hate this crap, because it's just one more way to remove personal responsibility from our society. Am I the only one that doesn't want the govt to babysit?

Good thing I don't have text messaging :P

I agree with both sides and I don't think there's an express solution for distracted driving when it comes to cell phone usage. Making people better drivers would be nice but it's a longshot something I don't really see happening and echoed by the sentiments above. The dmv gives anyone with a pulse a license and the only way I see of making people better drivers is like Germany making traffic violations incur much stricter penalties.

Using the specious argument of if talking then why not adjusting the cd player doesn't really hold water holding a conversation requires more concentration. That always makes me laugh with the hands free being touted as so "safe" it's not the holding of the phone that's distracting you...

+1 ^^^^^^^

We need to ban texting/listening to mp3's while crossing train tracks up here..... 4 dumbass' have been smoked by trains in the last couple years. At least the world got smarter with their passing. :)

why would the officer need to see your records. if he witnesses you looking at your phone or appear to be texting he can write you a ticket if you appear to be distracted.

of course when you get to court you can produce your phone records to back up your statement that you werent texting.

And here the government is going to spend 3.8BN on mandating reverse cameras... Wouldn't the money be better spent on driver education?

How do you allow the passengers to use their phones but not the driver?

If you can figure out a way to do it, then instead of "lock up" I suggest "blow up"

Texting while driving.
Talking on the phone while driving.
Changing radio stations while driving.
Selecting tunes while driving.
Eating while driving.
Talking to passengers while driving.
Rearranging your clothes while driving.

ALL BAD

Should there be laws against it? Maybe. But all of the above should also be considered contributing factors in case of an accident when deciding the cause. Cellphone use at any time could easily established by phone records.

That is why I try to minimize all of the above for myself unless really necesssary.

The thing that makes texting particularly bad is that you have to look at the phone screen and keyboard while you're doing it. If you played a GameBoy, or plucked your eyebrows, while driving it would present a similar problem, but those aren't real common activities.

Most other things you do without looking (conversing, radio tuning, etc) so they are less dangerous.

Before the ban on texting and driving, I would often see people holding their phone and the steering wheel at the same time, texting in clear sight. After the ban I notice that they have the phone in their lap, out of sight, to avoid being seen texting, looking straight down, while driving. Clearly safer...not!

As voice control, e.g. Apple's Siri, gets better, texting won't require looking at or typing on the phone. You'll be able to speak and send texts, and to hear texts read to you, with the phone in your pocket.

At that point voice texting will be similar to a hands free phone conversation, or a conversation with a passenger, as far as distraction goes.

That level of distraction is okay with me. Some people are such bad drivers that they can't talk and drive, but I think they'd be bad drivers regardless. Most people, I think but admittedly based on no data, can talk and drive at the same time.

So, the thing is for anti texting laws to be written narrowly, so that they don't affect the use of future voice texting technologies.

I personally don't have many phone conversations in the car, but I tend to avoid phone calls anyway. When I do get a call, I use speakerphone and set the phone on my dash or instrument binnacle. Sound quality and extraneous noise make it almost intolerable for the caller. That's great. Means they'll get off the phone fast.

LOL, we have even had quite a number of txt-ers killed by buses. Yes, they were concentrating so much on their text that they didn't think to look before stepping out on to the road. I've emergency braked a few times when a hoddy (who lost preriferal vision from the hood) has stepped onto the road while texting.

Does that not make any sense to anyone else? :)

Text messaging with your voice. How bout you just talk to someone.... through a handsfree of course.