Editorial: Texting while driving should be banned

By: Editorial | Opelika Auburn News
Published: July 31, 2009

Driving under the influence causes motorists to lose focus, something we can’t afford in heavy traffic or high-speed situations.

What else causes us to lose focus behind the wheel of an automobile? Fooling with the stereo system? Searching through the glove box? Pacifying fussy children in the back seat?

Each inhibits our ability to fully pay attention to the most pressing matter at hand when we are behind the wheel of an automobile, but none are against the law. Obviously, drinking and driving is irresponsible and foolish. It’s a choice some make before they crank the car.

But what about cell phones?

Talking on a cell phone can decrease our ability to fully pay attention to our immediate surroundings, but we can still focus on the road in front of us while holding the Blackberry to our ear.
And then there’s texting. Uh-oh.

It’s difficult to tell your best girl ILY or you will C U at 5 when you’re zigging in and out of traffic, holding the phone in one hand, pecking the keypad with the other, steering with your knee and paying more attention to your message than the road.

A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when they weren’t texting.

The institute recommended that texting be banned for all drivers, while younger drivers should not be allowed to use cell phones period.

This is something that lawmakers in Alabama should take into consideration when they meet again next winter.

We understand that sending text messages have become a necessary form of communication.

Parents need to know where their children are and when they’ll come home. Sometimes urgent messages must be sent.

But let’s get serious, a high volume of text messages are not urgent. They are basic conversation. Such means of conversation should not be made behind the wheel unless it’s with a passenger.

Texting should be done by motorists only when their vehicle is parked. Lawmakers should continue to find new ways to make our roads safer.

If banning drivers from watching their cell phones instead of the road will save lives, then by all means make it into law.