Our View: Texting while driving is deadly
You’ve seen them in front of you, driving slower than everyone else, looking at their laps. They’re distracted drivers, often reading text messages. Those messages must be important, because they are truly a matter of life and death.
Across America, nine people die each day due to distracted driving – 3,300 per year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
We love our “smart phones,” but you have to be an idiot to use one when you’re driving.
In Merced, kids are being told about these dangers in high school programs. But the deterrent effect appears minimal. You can’t drive to the grocery store without seeing someone watching their lap, or holding a phone close to the steering wheel trying to both drive and text. They believe they’re being safe, but it takes 3 to 5 seconds to read a text – plenty of time kill or be killed.
This “dangerous epidemic,” say federal officials, factors into 80 percent of all crashes. Yet, state highway officials said nearly 1 in 10 California drivers talk or text, a startling 39 percent jump from 2014.
Education campaigns aren’t working, and penalties aren’t a big enough deterrent.
In California, getting caught reading, writing or emailing while driving results in a $20 fine for first-timers. Repeat violations cost $50. With court costs, that’s $76 for first-timers, $190 thereafter.
The Legislature tried to toughen the laws i 2011, passing a bill to increase fines to $50 for first-timers and $100, plus a point, for subsequent violations. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it. Last year, he vetoed another bill to add a point for texting. Brown was worried about nickel-and-diming Californians of modest means. But with the rise in distracted driving, it’s time to demand action. Distracted drivers endangering everyone, themselves included.
Judges must be empowered to order blocking applications installed on phones of anyone cited for texting while driving. AT&T makes an app that blocks all incoming texts while a phone is in motion. Cellcontrol does the same, and works with virtually every brand. TXtBlocker tracks phones through GPS and limits when texts can be sent or received. SafeCellapp disables email and messaging while a car is in motion. There are others.
Parents: drivers under age 20 make up 10 percent of all distracted-driving fatalities. It could be your kid.
Don’t let your smart phone make you stupid, or dead.
This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Our View: Texting while driving is deadly."