Texting While Driving May Be A Greater Epidemic Then Drunk Driving Or Teachers Sleeping With Students

It is an epidemic. It may be the end of commuting as we know it today. Inflated gas prices? No. Texting! According to Time Magazine, a Nationwide Insurance survey found that 18% of cell phone owners text and drive at the same time! The drivers surveyed were between the ages of 16 and 30. This is the texting generation. YouTube has videos of drivers texting. There are about 600 members of a Facebook group called "I Text Message People While Driving And I Haven't Crashed Yet!" (These cavalier posters are facilitating a civil suit against them when they do crash.)

Texting while driving has been a likely factor in fatal accidents in more than 20 states in 2008. Alaska, Washington, New Jersey, Minnesota and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting texting while driving. Louisiana's law is expected to be signed by the Governor any day.

But do the laws work? Texting bans are hard to police. Texting is often done with the phone held on drivers' laps. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that North Carolina's cell-phone ban for drivers under 18 did not work. So why expect a texting ban to be followed? In North Carolina, it was thought that cell phone use actually increased or stayed the same after the ban. 100 cell-phone violations were issued in North Carolina to teens in 2007 . Because publicity of the evils of texting and driving may work. After fatal crashes in New York involving text messaging, the public is starting to ask their state officials to do something about it. Perhaps public awareness can become a deterrent.

Education always seems helpful, but with some teachers having affairs with students, perhaps that would create an even greater distraction. But the teacher- student problems in Tampa are a discussion for another day.

Experts on the subject do not think teachers sleeping with students is an epidemic but reporting of such crimes is on the rise. From the smiles on the faces of some of the 17 year old victims, one may suspect that reporting of the crime has become a method of bragging in some cases.

Update 7-29-09: Texting increases the risk of an accident by over 20 times! http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135969/Texting_while_driving_increases_crash_risk_23_fold_?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2009-07-28

Update 5-14-11: As of 7-1-11, Indiana joins the other 32 states that have banned texting while driving. Cal, Conn, Md, N.J., NY, Ore, Wash. D.C. and the Virgin Islands prohibit all cell phone use while driving. Keep in mind, all states punish distracted driving. Be careful!