Legislation mulls over texting laws

You're on your way to meet a friend, but you're running a little late. 

So, as you head down the road, you whip out your phone and send a quick text message to let them know.  Texting and driving. 

We've all done it at one point or another, and we've all known it wasn't really the best idea.  But we did our best to be careful, and told ourselves it wasn't that big of a deal.

In the last session of the Indiana General Assembly, the issue of texting and driving came up. 

 Tearful mothers told the story of how their children were no longer part of the world today due to car accidents caused by texting and driving.  Statistics were cited about how distracting texting and driving can be, and the behavior was compared to drunk driving.  Legislators discussed how exactly to deal with the issue, and even tossed around banning cell phone usage altogether.  And finally, they settled on banning texting and driving. 

This isn't wholly new.  Cell phones were just starting to be common among kids when I first got my license, and no one said anything about texting and driving. 

But as this year's freshmen are probably aware, texting and driving for new drivers was already illegal.  The new law simply expands the ban to include all drivers, not merely the young ones.

However, there is a problem with this law that was brought up in the initial hearings. 

How do you enforce the law?  GPS systems are widely used to help people get from point A to point B, and legislators didn't want to ban their use. 

With smart phones these days, however, many use their cell phone as a GPS.  So how does a police officer distinguish a driver who is using their phone for a GPS and one who is texting?  Will police officers be able to seize the cell phones of suspected texters to verify that they were indeed texting?  That's a whole can of worms that no one wants to touch. 

Besides GPS, there are many other activities that you can perform on a cell phone that does not include texting.  And if the officer pulls you over but can't seize your phone, all you have to do is say "I was checking my GPS, officer" and they can't ticket you for it.

Legislators recognized this weakness when they passed the law.  So what is its purpose?  Currently, if there is a car accident caused by texting and driving, there is no special penalty for it as there is in the case of drunk driving.  The purpose motivating this law was to change that—to make the prosecution of violators easier once an accident occurs.  

In a court case, your text records can be subpoenaed to prove that you sent a text message right before the crash, meaning that it doesn't need to be proven at the scene—theoretically. 

I don't think the new law has been tested in court yet since it has so recently gone into effect, but I'm sure lawyers are already working on possible defenses against the new law. 

 I think we should all stop a minute to think about why it was made illegal.  Texting and driving is dangerous.  It can be a huge distraction, and taking your eyes off the road and having your hands occupied is generally not a good idea. 

The fact that some studies have found that texting while driving is more dangerous—drivers have a slower reaction time—than drunk driving should make all of us stop and think a minute. 

You wouldn't hop in a car and drive drunk, so why is it okay to text and drive? 

Next time your phone goes off, wait for the next red light—it's safe and legal to respond to your text there, after all.