To me, it should not be. Recently, in the state I live in (Michigan), a piece of legislation was passed that would make texting and driving a primary offense. A primary offense is when the police can pull a driver over just for that specific reason. If a cop sees you texting and driving, that is grounds for the cop to pull you over. This is much different from a secondary offense. A secondary offense would come with a primary offense. For instance, if you get pulled over for speeding and you just happened to be texting, only then could you be fined for it. Michigan is not the only state to do this. Ohio, Iowa, D.C. and 17 other states have done the same. Although, texting and driving may be a secondary offense in those states. To me, this is just another reason a cop can pull you over, without legitimate reason or evidence. Just like the seat belt law, a cop can claim that you did not have your seat belt on. The only defense against that would be that you would have to record yourself getting pulled over with you seat belt. If you don't do that.....you didn't have the seat belt on. The same thing with this texting law. I would be fine with this if it were a secondary offense, but the fact that it's a primary offense is just absurd. In MI, the first time you are caught, it's a $100 fine and a second time is a $200 fine. No points are put on the drivers license. I don't know, it just seems a bit trivial. It's not like there a thousands of texting related deaths. This would be much bigger than it is. It seems to be a......pre-cautionary law. What are your thoughts?
That's because your school is filled with children, and children are like lemmings. If some new trend happens to kick in, like text-messaging, they'll follow it no matter what.
Sometimes I try to imagine how I will explain the texting craze to my future children:
"So basically everyone communicated by texting" "Wow! So voice phones hadn't been invented yet?" "No, our phones could do that too." "So... they just had bad quality?" "They had great quality." "But it was expensive?" "Most plans had unlimited talking." "But texting was just easier right?" "Actually, on quite a few phones you had to press one tiny button three time to make just one letter." "Um... wtf?"
This will probably be the conversation when my kid realizes I'm an idiot.
i might say that to some of my friends, what aknerd said, that is a good point. lol. the point of texting is that kids these days have no people skills.
It should be illegal, no one can really both text and drive at the same time, it's been proven many people would be safer drunk then texting behind the wheel. I've known people killed by others texting and driving and I've learnt to give anyone driving while texting a little extra space, you just never know what their going to do. On military bases it's illegal as well.
Driving while talking on the cellular phone is illegal here in California. I personally think talking on the phone takes less concentration than text-messaging, so why would one be illegal and not the other?
Even just talking is dangerous. You can get so immersed in the conversation that you take your eyes off the road and then swerve through six lanes of traffic. The law should be "No use of cellular devices, by the driver for the extent of the trip".
Talking on the phone is no different than talking to a passenger in the car. In fact talking to a passenger I bet most people would turn to look at them occasionally, which would be worse than talking on the phone. The only problem is if you need both hands, but a bluetooth headset, or speaker phone takes care of that.
The only problem is if you need both hands, but a bluetooth headset, or speaker phone takes care of that.
Studies have been done recently that indicate that it's not a matter of having both hands occupied that causes accidents, it's the fact that a conversation itself is going on.
In other words, hands-free headsets and other devices similar to those do not eliminate the problem.
As far as texting goes, as someone who lives and drives frequently in a college town where texting and driving is prevalent, I have to say it's a horrible practice and that, in more than one instance, if I had not been fully alert, I would have been hit by someone in the driver's seat who was occupied with sending a text message.
It's extremely reckless in any scenario to take your attention off the road; people know the risks, but they still continue with the behavior. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Its dangerous to text and drive. I mean you have to look at the screen to see what you've typed and while your typing, and you have to look again to see the message. This means you'd be flicking your eyes back and fourth from the road to the mobile phone.
I just want to point out something to the two guys on here saying "Why do you have to be lazy and anti-social and text, instead of just pick up the phone and call?" When you call someone on the phone, you have to wait 10-15 seconds while it rings, then they pick it up and you talk. If you just want to say " Meet me at 3" or "What time is lunch?" Then why wait all that time just to say that, when you could text it in a third of the time? Also, if the person is busy when you try to call them, they won't be able to pick up and hear you, and will have to try to call back later... Then what if you are busy as well then? If you text, they can check what you said at their convenience, and respond. With text messages it doesn't matter when you send it, but the person can respond when they get an opportunity to. Just to add on here, I also used to think texting was a dumb waste of times, but there are times when it is easier and more convenient than calling someone and trying to talk to them on the phone. OH - at loud parties or events too! texting makes communication possible!
