Texting & Driving Law in Effect Today

Fines should be steeper and (IMO) it should cover pretty much anything involving a phone (including messing with the GPS or dialing phone numbers). But a good start, and a vast improvement over what we had before.

about time; distracted driving is just about as bad as drunk driving

@lim 56718 wrote:

about time; distracted driving is just about as bad as drunk driving

Numerous studies have shown that messing with a cell phone is about as bad as driving drunk. I personally think the punishments should be as severe (i.e., you’re in court looking at a license suspension for a first offense).

If the law works as a PSA to reduce distract driving, great. Otherwise, honestly I think it’s a useless law and I worry that it sends the wrong message about some distractions being ok while others are primary offenses. The issue with distracted driving is just that, the driver is distracted. I’m just as worried about the parent reaching back to discipline a kid, the woman putting on makeup, the guy chowing down on a big mac, the teenager pumping the music so loud the ground shakes, as I am by the idiot looking at a phone. I would rather they launch a serious crackdown on all distracted driving and double or triple the penalties. Especially given this will be a very tough law to enforce and it’s much easier to cite someone for weaving between lanes as being distracted by something because you don’t have to cite the specific distraction.

@ShawnoftheDread 56829 wrote:

While I agree with you in general, the texting law will actually be easier to enforce than a general “distracted driving” law. It’s an actual activity that can be observed, while be “distracted” is pretty subjective. My kids yelling in the back seat distract me, even when I choose not to respond to them. Should a cop pull me over if he thinks it looks like my kids are being too loud? Weaving in lane? I might be distracted, or I might have sneezed, or I might just be a crappy driver. So in that example, it’s the weaving in lanes that should be the actual infraction, not a supposed distraction.

But what are they observing? As a prosecutor (well, former one at least) friend of mine pointed out, you’re still allowed to dial a phone number and to text while stopped. Therefore if you’re pulled over on suspicion of texting, it would have to be because you were observed doing this for quite some time in a moving vehicle (difficult) or because you were stupid enough to admit to it to a police officer. (His point was the burden rests upon the citing body here and therefore silence will eliminate findings of guilt almost every time).

The distracted driving is really an add-on citation anyway because you’re right, it’s very hard to prove a distraction and because one man’s distraction is another man’s comfort. But you can still talk your way into the citation. In the weaving scenario, it would likely be you’re pulled over for failing to properly signal a lane change intention (in VA, not in MD as it’s oddly not illegal there to change lanes without signaling) and possibly, failure to yield. Plus whatever else the cop can find you for when you’re stopped and a good one can find a lot.

@jrenaut 56853 wrote:

I’m not sure actually fining or ticketing drivers is even necessary in most cases. Lots of studies have shown that likelihood of being caught is a much better deterrent than large fines (a $5 fine that you get every other time you do it is more effective than a $100 fine every 100th time, for example). So allowing officers to pull people over who appear to be texting, and leaving it to the officer’s judgement on ticket vs warning, should be a much better deterrent than the current situation.

…except the reality is that drivers will hardly ever be caught either way, because we only have some many cops out there and they have things to do other than pull over people texting. So a large fine is probably the best deterrent we can reasonably impose (aside from drunk-driving-style mandatory court appearances and license suspensions and such, but I don’t think society is ready to do that).

There’s also value in it just being illegal. It means it will be taught in driver’s ed and will be on tests. It means our collective societal judgment is that this action is dangerous. I fully recognize that not enough drivers on the road have to re-test and take real drivers’ education. But every little bit helps.

I think one major problem with texting while driving is that lots of people really don’t think it’s dangerous. They think that _they_ are great drivers and can handle taking their eyes off the road. Besides, they think they don’t take their eyes off the road for too long. It used to be similar with drunk driving (or still is, with some) — “I know I can handle driving after 3 drinks”. As a society, we have to chip away at this attitude, and make people realize driving a multiton box of steel is a big responsibility that should not be taken lightly (or done while texting). As much as I’d like to, it’s not going to happen overnight. Every chip helps.