posted March 01, 2008 08:51 AM         

By The Wall Street Journal
During the morning rush hour on Dec. 5, the 53-year-old driver of a blue Dodge Caravan was traveling north on Interstate 5 outside Seattle when he took his eyes off the road to scan an e-mail on his BlackBerry, the State Patrol says. And that's how he hit the white Mazda, which clipped the green Honda, which rammed the black Toyota SUV before spinning into the other lane and plowing into a city bus.
Nobody was seriously hurt. But the episode sparked a chain reaction of a different sort in the Washington State Legislature in the form of a bill that would make it a crime to "operate a motor vehicle while reading, writing or sending electronic messages."
"I think just about everyone realizes that text messaging while driving should not be acceptable," says Joyce McDonald, the bill's sponsor. But the Republican member of the Washington House of Representatives also recognizes that people call it "CrackBerry" for a reason: She cheerfully admits she'd probably scan her own device on the drive to work "if I didn't need my reading glasses to see e-mail."
Forget DWI. The big new traffic-safety issue is DWT: Driving While Texting.
McDonald is joining a crowd of politicians seeking a crackdown. In neighboring Oregon, pending bills would provide fines -- up to $720 in one of them -- for any driver caught texting or holding a cell phone to an ear. And in Arizona, a bill is pending that would make DWT a ticketable offense.
DWT is an extreme version of a whole new class of modern "distracted driving" issues lawmakers are wrestling with as electronic devices become an ever more important part of people's lives, in and out of their automobiles. Lawmakers are being encouraged by insurance companies like Allstate, which has added an e-mail fanatic to its stable of "multitasker" safe-driving ads. The campaign shows the "dedicated investor," who is balancing a BlackBerry and the business section of a newspaper on the wheel while he navigates his sports car through stop-and-go traffic. (Another scene in the ad shows a driver changing his trousers while blazing down the highway).

Reading and typing in traffic
Few driver distractions seem quite as frighteningly intrusive as attempting to read and type messages while weaving in traffic. The first reported incident of DWT may have been in Tennessee in 2005, when a man died while texting when he lost control of his pickup and plunged down an embankment. In Colorado that same year, a teenager served 10 days in jail after he struck and killed a bicyclist while texting a friend.

Continued from page 1

A study conducted by Nationwide Mutual Insurance that was released this year found that 19% of all drivers -- and 37% of drivers between the ages of 18 and 27 -- text message behind the wheel. DWT seems particularly common among kids. McDonald first considered her ban last October, after she visited a high school and a group of students showed her how to send text messages by cell phone. "They were sending messages secretly while they were sitting in class," she says. "It wasn't long before it dawned on me that they were also texting while they were driving."
The discovery enabled McDonald to find a quick cosponsor across the aisle in Democrat Dawn Morrell, who said she had seen her campaign manager texting behind the wheel. "Imagine these kids driving along while they're breaking up with their boyfriends or whatever," Morrell says. "We laugh but it's scary."
At a recent hearing on the bill, McDonald and others testified before a largely impassive group of House Transportation Committee members. The legislature has turned down cell phone legislation eight years straight. But this time, it passed McDonald's bill. Many legislators seemed keen to enact some restrictions. One representative, Larry Seaquist, referred in the hearing to a bill that would "phase out" handheld wireless devices among drivers as "The Save My Wife's Life Act."
Lobbyists swing into action
Sprint Nextel, which opposes legislation that would limit wireless devices in cars, had a lobbyist that day in Olympia, Washington's capital. Sprint says curbing abuse is best handled through education and should focus on the full spectrum of driver distractions. The company has begun distributing a series of four posters to high schools around the country that highlight this strategy. One of the posters shows a burger and fries, while the others show a tube of mascara, a compact disc and a silver flip-top phone. The caption on the phone poster reads: "Cell Phone 4oz. Car 2,800 lbs. Taking the wheel is a ton of responsibility."
Few opponents argue that driving and texting -- any more than driving and drinking -- is a good idea. Instead, opponents focus on the dearth of statistics showing that wireless devices cause crashes. Indeed, there are few data suggesting that texting causes more wrecks than, say, fast food. A study conducted by the state of Washington in 2006 blamed "driver distractions" for 7.5% of the 50,000 reported accidents during the first nine months of that year. Of that number, the study said distractions prompted by "operating a handheld communications device," including text messaging, came in fifth, statistically in line with the grab-bag category of "driver interacting with passengers, animals or objects."

New Jersey Now the Most Expensive State for Talking on a Cell Phone While Driving
NEW YORK, Feb. 27 PRNewswire -- New Jersey drivers will have to be more careful while driving and using their cell phones this weekend because starting March 1 they could be fined $250 for violating the state's hands-free law -- the most expensive hands-free fine in the nation.

The state of New Jersey originally adopted hands-free legislation as a secondary offense in July 2004, making the use of cellular phones while driving punishable by fines ranging from $100-$250, but drivers could only be ticketed in conjunction with another traffic violation.

Beginning Saturday, however, the law becomes a primary offense, allowing police to pull over drivers solely for using a cell phone will driving. If caught using phones without a hands-free device, drivers will face a fine of $250 for talking on the phone and $100 for text messaging.

After a near miss side swipe from a woman in a huge Ford Excursion texting in the merge lane - [that merge would have obliterated me. ] I have noticed a lot of texting going on. One lady I saw while stopped at a red light. She had the green in the cross street, and was attempting to make a tight turn while texting. I know this because she clipped the center island right next to me, and was a foot from my car.

At night the glowing screens of the latest toys flash by. Drivers unimpressed by the other motorists doing a paltry 70 mph in a 55 careen by, alone...a movie playing on the DVD...dash mounted GPS in full on...yaking on the phone. I wish that some drivers would have a little more respect for the act of driving, at high speed, in heavy traffic.

posted March 01, 2008 09:49 AM         

I was a little confused by the NJ fine tho->drivers will face a fine of $250 for talking on the phone and $100 for text messaging.

posted March 01, 2008 12:37 PM         

There is also recent legislation requiring all children up to the of 11 to have either a properly fitted car seat, or for the older ones, a booster chair.

posted March 01, 2008 12:49 PM         

quote:

---

Someone without breasts designed them, that's for sure.

---

posted March 01, 2008 12:53 PM         

oh and yes it should be illegal

posted March 01, 2008 02:25 PM         

quote:

---

They ought to give out free seatbelt adjusters to pregnant women.

---

posted March 01, 2008 03:33 PM         

I am very interested in the U.K. law, blue moon. We colonials love to use the 'fine' to help bolster or generate revenue by state. As a 'for instance' one of our states -Virginia- quadruples speeding fines to those living in the state. So a 700 USD$ speeding fine for a drive through would turn into 3,000 USD for a resident. Helps pay for road maintenance and such. You say it is illegal period in the U.K. are fines or jail involved?

Drivers are one of my pet peeves. Any one who read the Pet Peeve thread knows how steamed I get...every darn day.

posted March 01, 2008 04:00 PM         

Technology has really given people carte blanche to become incredibly rude and something in me just can't abide by it. But knowing that people actually have the nerve to text and DRIVE????!!

THROW THEM UNDER A JAIL AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!!!

Thank you for letting me vent.

posted March 01, 2008 04:35 PM         

Our audio/travel quirks are similar: If the mirror *doesn't* vibrate, not loud enough
I don't generally miss fire trucks/ambulances, tho -- in drivers ed we learned to check the rearview mirror every 10-15 seconds ;-))

Actually I think this whole "cell phone whilst driving" thing is just a symptom of a much deeper problem.....
One issue is that people have been "programmed" to want to get sooooo much more done in the same amount of time, as if this is a GOOD thing. Multi-tasking is seen as more than a good thing: it's a required skill for "modern" life. Don't have time to catch up with your sister out-of-state?? Call her while you're driving the kids to soccer practice (thus disconnecting from your own children ).

Businesses are part of the goad: "Be More Productive" in the same amount of time -- that's the only way to increase profits. A story: I was riding with my boss to a meeting in downtown Minneapolis. We were talking and his cell phone rang. He said, "excuse me but I've got to get this -- this customer's only in town for today." So he's boogie-ing down the freeway yapping on the phone, and Mr Customer wants him to write something down. My Aquarian boss, normally a level-headed person, gets out a pad and pen, has the cell phone clamped to his ear with his shoulder and is holding the pad and pen writing whilst steering with his knees!!!!! I freaked out and grabbed the wheel, so he dropped the pad and told Mr Customer he'd call him back in 5 minutes
I complained to management about my experience, and they're phasing in the earbuds and other hands-free options.

My question: Do we really *have* to be so busy that we don't have time to think and reflect for 5 minutes straight?? Will we really lose a customer if we don't answer the cell and deal with their issue on the first ring, or might we gain a customer’s respect if we tell them, "I'm on the freeway right now, so I'll call you back in 10 minutes." ????

posted March 02, 2008 01:11 AM         

YES.