There is no need to offer an example of the risks of texting and driving. But on Wednesday, that example came when a 44-year-old woman was killed in a crash in Eddington. Police say moments before the car crashed into a tree, the driver had been sending and receiving text messages on her phone. The passenger in the car was hospitalized with serious injuries.
For the last several months, Secretary of State Charlie Summers has been advocating for changes to driving laws to improve the odds that drivers in the 15-24 age group will live to be 25. Those changes would usher onto Maine roads drivers who are better prepared and better warned about the risks of such activities as texting.
That a 44-year-old woman was texting while driving — and possibly distracted to the point of causing the crash — illustrates how deeply ingrained this relatively new phenomenon is in our culture. People text while having lunch with their spouses. They text while playing with their kids. They text while cooking dinner. They text while using the bathroom.
Nothing government can do will change these regrettable habits, but the law can and has addressed texting while driving, making it illegal last fall. It must be regarded as a threat to safety. In fact, Mr. Summers believes texting while driving is as deadly as driving drunk.
That point is made in a powerful short film Mr. Summers is highlighting. It’s called “It Can Wait” and can be found on YouTube and other sites. One of the young people featured in the film says he would never agree to the suggestion that he close his eyes for five or six seconds while driving. But that’s very close to what drivers are doing while looking at a cellphone and pushing keys.
While older drivers are engaging more frequently in such distractions as texting while driving, a huge impact can be made by focusing on beginning drivers and getting them to see the risks of such behaviors. Along with texting, there are other fronts on which the state can improve the odds that young drivers will live long enough to become old drivers.
In early January, in the midst of the secretary of state’s public campaign for changing driving laws, three young women, ages 16, 19 and 20, and a 19-year-old man were killed in three separate crashes. One of the drivers was texting while driving. Mr. Summers hosted meetings around the state late last year and early this year to gather ideas on how the odds could be improved.
The Secretary of State has developed a list of changes he hopes to make to driving laws. They make sense. The last time the curriculum for the written driving test was reviewed, Mr. Summers said, was in 1996. That’s before cellphones and other portable technology became ubiquitous.
In a visit to Narraguagus High School earlier this year, he said a dozen students told him they planned to wait until they were 18 to take a driver’s education course because of the expense. That should change, he believes, so that teens of all economic classes have the opportunity to be well trained before getting behind the wheel.
Mr. Summers also wants to increase the number of hours a new driver must spend behind the wheel with a supervising adult from 35 hours to 100 hours. He also wants the supervising driver to be at least 25 years old. And he would like new drivers to experience the challenges of driving in all four of Maine’s seasons. Often, teens take driver’s ed in the spring and by fall are driving on their own, with no adult supervision as they first tackle snow- and ice-covered roads.
New drivers also should have earlier curfews, Mr. Summers believes. Most accidents occur between 10 p.m. and midnight.
Secretary of State Summers may soon become U.S. Senate candidate Summers. Before this happens, his important suggestions for improving driving laws should be considered.
“Nothing government can do will change these regrettable habits, but the law can and has addressed texting while driving, making it illegal last fall. It must be regarded as a threat to safety. In fact, Mr. Summers believes texting while driving is as deadly as driving drunk.”
No kidding!!! Until the system decides to really get tough, we can expect more deaths, more poles being hit, more trees jumping in front of cars, and, I’m sure insurance rates going higher!!!
“Maine’s law is likely to take effect in September, or 90 days after the present legislative session ends. It sets minimum fines at $100 for texting while driving.”
What good did this do?
The NTSB recommends that all texting and use of cellphones while driving be made illegal. I agree wholeheartedly. There is no reason for ANYONE to be yakking on the phone or texting while they’re behind the wheel. If getting phone calls is so important to someone then they should pull off to the side of the road and THEN take their stupid call.
I’ve had a few close calls with fools who were distracted. Just the other day my husband almost had to go off into the ditch because some dumbass (who was on his cellphone) veered over in our lane, and only in the last nano-second did this person realize what was happening and pulled back over into his own lane. It scared the hell out of my husband and I.
All I know is if I get into a wreck because of a “distracted” driver they’d better hope they’ve killed me because otherwise I’ll be taking their little electronic device and shoving it into a place that only an intestinal X-Ray will be able find it.
A driving test was set up by one of the auto magazines. It was done on an airport runway. All the drivers were instructed to hit the brakes as soon as a red light on the dash lit up.
1- Drivers sober did this and establised a base line average. At 35 mph
2- Drivers were given alcohol to the point they were at .08 blood alcohol level. Their reaction resulted in them traveling 4′ further before hitting the brakes.
3- Drivers sober, while talking on a cell phone reaction resulted in the cars traveling 36′ further.
4- Drivers sober, while texting on a cell phone reaction resuted in the cars traveling 75′ further.
With all the smart tech that wee have, I would think it would be MANDATORY that the phones not work while in motion. You must pull over, stop and then make your call or text your message. My phone has a setting so it wont work when in motion. Blackberry
I agree with all texting and talking on cell phones being illegal. Too many lives have been ruined or lost because of something that can wait. However, immobilizing the phone while in motion means that you could not make a 911 call. Unless you leave that feature available… What if some car is chasing you in a road rage incident and you need to call police? Or you witness a drunk driver in front of you? Personally, I’ve called the police while driving because I witnessed 3 guys literally stomping a guy’s face into the pavement, and I could not stop due to traffic. I gave the police the location and description, and very well may have saved that poor guy from being severely injured if he wasn’t already.
So, in cases of emergency calls, I disagree about immobilizing phones while in motion. If you were on the receiving end of that beating, wouldn’t you want me to be able to call the cops as I drove by?
Could you have stopped in traffic if you had a flat tire?
Nolo.com says: ” A basic rule of the road requires a vehicle to be able to stop safely if traffic is stopped ahead of it. If it cannot stop safely, the driver is not driving as safely as the person in front.”
“Signaling When You Slow Down or Stop Unexpectedly: Your brake lights let people know that you are slowing down. If you are going to stop or slow down at a place where another driver doesn’t expect it, tap your brake pedal three or four times quickly.”
– http://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/licenses/MotoristHandbook.pdf (Page 47)
http://goodbyecars.blogspot.com/2008/12/interesting-car-crash.html – Interesting car crashes.
Way to go for calling 9-1-1 anyway.
Actually, no I couldn’t have. The road was such that it was one way, two lanes of traffic, with no break-down lane, and no turn-off or driveways. So, unless I wanted to stop in the actual lane and possibly cause an accident, I could not stop.
Ya, thanks for the tip on tapping my brakes to alert people. Just because I may be a good driver, and you may be a good driver, doesn’t mean that the idiot(s) behind me are good drivers. So your advice, although very practical, does not apply as a law of common sense in all situations.
The government always has such clear-cut ways of dealing with situations don’t they?
The government won World War II and sent a man to the moon. Private manned space flight is still sub-orbital.
But those are good points, except what if you had a flat? Would your life have been in danger? If there was no shoulder (Maine DOT says [Oops, a minimum of] 2 foot wide shoulders are required
http://www.memun.org/SchoolsProject/Resources/Roads/Fundamentals.htm ) then the road was unsafe. Perhaps you should mention the road and what area it was in if it was unsafe.
I’m a perv and I’ve never rushed a car.
If I had a flat, there is no way I would have pulled over in that area. I would have proceeded until I felt like I could safely deal with the flat tire.
A 2 foot wide shoulder doesn’t give you adequate room to pull a car over and fix a flat tire and not have to worry about a car clipping you or your car. Furthermore, I didn’t have a flat. End of story.
Lastly, you’re rambling and making a debate/discussion out of something completely off topic. Stay on track. Maybe take a course in debating.
I don’t follow orders very well.
Have a nice day and drive safely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmMTRtTQ914 – Horrible car crash.
Regardless, it’s not the point of my comment. Point is, if your phone doesn’t work in motion, what do you do if someone is following you; whether it be road rage, a perv, etc. Do you stop in the middle of nowhere to call the police, while he/she rushes your car, just so your phone can work? Stupid move.
Do you try to outrun them? Stupid move.
Do you call 911 and keep it all under control? Smart move.
And how often does that happen?
How often does road rage happen? Seriously? Every day. Many times per day.
That’s one example that I’ll use because it happens every single day. Go look up cases of road rage, and see how common they are. If you’re a small female, or even an elderly male, 911 is going to be your friend when some strung out guy is harrassing you in your car.
Look up a case in Londonderry, NH. Happened several years ago. A guy had his leg nearly severed. Then they found over 9,000 prescription pills and cocaine in his trunk. He went nuts on the other car after chasing him down. The “attacked” ended up pinning the “attacker” with his car and nearly killed said “attacker”. Don’t know about you, but I’d want 911 to work at that moment in my life.
If you don’t think that stuff happens, you’re completely blind. And if you’re of the mindset, “well that can’t happen to me because it doesn’t happen very often to the general public”, then you’re living a very naive and risk-taking life.
http://ygn.me/quN8bj8
What do you mean I have to be home at 11:00????text text text… I will not….OMG!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!…………………………………….
Back around 1993 I saw a Honewell van put-putting along 118th Ave. North in St. Pete with a satelite dish on top and the van’s side door open.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge – DARPA “Grand Challenge” prize for driverless vehicles.
Non Sequitur was cutting today, and I actually chuckled reading Beetle Bailey and Garfield, and of course Dilbert was very funny. Unless you’re addicted to Facebook or pain meds.
The phones are not the problem. Stupid people are the problem.
Now see, you and I agree 100% here. So how can you possibly think road rage and someone chasing you down because you ticked them off doesn’t happen?
Come on.