Texting, Talking and Deadly Roads

With nearly 6,000 people losing their lives last year in traffic accidents connected to drivers texting or talking on cell phones, isn’t it about time that the federal government took some action? The states have been toying with restricting use of the devices, but the results have been mixed with only seven states banning hand-held cell phones and 18 making texting while driving illegal.

Federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave every indication last week that the federal government is ready to make a move toward reducing the carnage caused by distracted drivers. Ultimately, he told a “distracted driving summit” in Washington, he wanted the meeting to set “the stage for finding ways to eliminate texting while driving.”

Just before the two-day summit began, transportation officials released a report showing 5,870 people were killed and 515,000 were injured last year in crashes where at least one form of driver distraction was reported. Those distractions were involved in 16 percent of all fatal crashes in 2008.

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New data disclosed at the summit underscored the major problem of distractions involving young drivers. The biggest proportion of distracted drivers were those age 20 and under. Sixteen percent of all under-20 drivers involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been texting or using a hand-held cell phone.

Virginia is one of the states that prohibits teen drivers 18 and younger from texting while operating a vehicle.

But adults are just as guilty of using the devices while driving. It almost seems like every driver you encounter on the highway has a phone glued to his or her ear. And what is it that is so urgent they can’t wait until they get out from behind the wheel to talk? It’s probably nothing more than what they are going to have for dinner or whether a mutual friend is going to the movies later in the evening.

In short, the conversations are ones that could wait until the driver can either pull off the road (if it is really important) or until he gets to work or home to check up on his friends or associates.

Many safety groups, including the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, have urged a nationwide ban on texting and on using hand-held mobile devices while behind the wheel.

Not to minimize the idiocy of drinking and driving, a recent report in Car and Driver magazine found that texting and driving is more dangerous than drunken driving.

Those calling for tougher laws against texting and talking on cell phones are gaining in numbers. The National Safety Council wants a total ban on cell phone use while driving. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety have proposed federal rules that restrict talking and texting by drivers of tractor-trailers, motor coaches and large vans.

The statistics are grim. And unless the state and federal governments get serious about prohibiting these driver distractions, the carnage will continue on the nation’s highways. It’s time to reduce it with laws that take the devices out of the hands of drivers — young and old. Or will the lawmakers wait for that figure of 6,000 dead to double before doing anything?