Cars are a hotbed of activity: with drivers eating, fiddling with the radio, chatting with passengers, putting on makeup and yelling at the Brewers for losing to the Cubs, driving no longer seems to be their primary activity. Some things are just ridiculous — I will never forget the time I saw someone painting her nails as she ran a red light. There is a quick evolution of driving style: As a student, young drivers are overly cautious, driving under the speed limit, respecting traffic laws, terrified even to pass someone doing 55 on a freeway. After passing the driver’s test, fears of terrible accidents and of having to ask your parents for a ride home after a movie subside, and the confident, 30 mph in a 20 mph speed zone drivers emerge. Turn signals disappear and stop signs turn into mere suggestions, guidelines for how to act if another car is already in the intersection. Too often, drivers forget just how dangerous driving can be. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, almost 34,000 died in traffic accidents nationwide in 2009. Punching a hole in the perception of invincibility while driving, the bleak picture may be explained as the probabilistic outcome of having an estimated 254.4 million registered passenger vehicles in the U.S. However, that does not quite lessen the reality of the situation: Driving is dangerous.
The recent trend has been to crack down on common distractions that make driving all the more dangerous; in Wisconsin, the focus has been on stiffening punishments for driving under the influence, and now texting while driving. The Senate passed a law banning all texting while driving April 13; the bill had originally passed the Assembly in January, and it was passed with the Senate’s amendments April 15. The law, expected to be signed by Gov. Doyle, will ban all texting and would impose a fine of $20 to $400 for anyone caught violating the ban. The law is in accordance with a recent trend of anti-texting, anti-cell phone use for driving that has been moving across the country.
This bill is a positive achievement of the Wisconsin Legislature. Texting while driving unnecessarily places lives in danger. Think about it: Why do you text? The answer is probably not “to get directions because I’m lost” or “I’m going to be late, and I need to let someone know” or “I just saw a hit and run so I need to let 911 know.” Those are legitimate reasons to be using a phone while driving (although I am not sure if 911 takes texts.) Texting someone to let him or her know about the song that just came on the radio is not. The double standards abound when it comes to texting while driving. Whipping out a laptop to work on a paper, or pulling out a textbook to catch up on reading while driving home for the weekend is unheard of, at least to this writer. Yet drivers read and write all the time when in the context of texts. Texting is distracting, and it takes even more attention from driving. I am not arguing that every other distraction is fine and does not impede a driver’s ability. However, texting is a particularly distracting activity, and is also a relatively new phenomenon. Prohibiting drivers from texting will focus more of their attention on the road, allowing them to notice when they are about to run a stop sign and potentially mow down a pedestrian.
It is not a matter of whether the driver’s hands are firmly on the wheel at 10 and two; it is a question of whether his or her mind is on the happenings of the road. Texting and driving is serious. An ad produced in Gwent, Wales unapologetically presents a bloody, three-car accident caused by the inattention of a young driver texting and joking with friends (the ad can be found on YouTube.) The ad is, of course, designed to be a graphic and disturbing piece that persuades young drivers not to text and drive.
Texting and driving may not seem like that big of a deal. We embrace the mindset of constant multitasking, after all. In some circumstances, however, that mindset needs to be firmly rejected; there is no message more important than another’s life.
Elise Swanson ([email protected]) is a freshman with an undecided major.
