Understanding Texting and Negligence
Cell phones are easy to turn off and on. They should be inaccessible when we drive.
Distractions cause accidents no matter where they occur. They can and do happen in hospitals, cruise ships, airports and airplanes, the workplace, grocery stores, baseball parks, golf courses, I-95 or at home. Distractions are just the latest example of our human frailties and cannot be eliminated by passing a few laws. If you aren’t paying attention and push a grocery cart into a customer while you are on the cell phone that’s negligence. Same thing if you run your car into someone while you are on the cell phone.
Lots of things happen in cars: Some people eat, drink, talk, put on makeup, read books or maps, listen to MP3s, radios, watch DVDs, and talk and text with a cell phone. When we drive with passengers, the number of sources of possible distractions goes up. Drivers are tempted to turn and look at their faces, laugh, and carry on. We have all seen drivers putting on makeup, reading books, or shaving while driving on the interstate. What’s the first thing you do when you get behind the wheel: buckle up or turn on the radio, put on your makeup, drink your coffee? No problemo if we are passengers. The burden is on the driver since he/she controls the vehicle. We forbid driver’s to drink and drive . Should we also forbid drivers to use a cell phone and drive? Maybe. Depends on the circumstances . The Driver must take steps to avoid distractions because a few lost seconds can change a life.
Legislators are now coping with a new major source of distraction: cell phones. They go everywhere people are. The phone rings or a text message arrives no matter what we are doing or where we are, unless the phone is left behind or turned off. No one wants to do that. How would you like it if a surgeon answered his cell phone during surgery? Is a legislative rule banning texting during surgery necessary? Duh, I don’t think so.
So, cell phones are a major new source of distraction. That cannot be denied. There has been a tremendous amount of publicity concerning Texting and driving. The Florida legislature recently banned drivers of school buses and trucks from texting based on claims that texting was just as likely to cause an accident while driving as is alcohol impairment. Other states have followed too. Others think all cell phones should be banned from being used unless they are being used hands free. These behaviors were not part of our world when cars were invented, and we are as a society now facing a new legal issue which was not around a generation ago.
I am skeptical that any legislature can, even with huge fines, change human behavior. So, the answer is simple: Come on People: Control your impulse to talk and drive. Turn that cell phone off until the drive is over.
