Editorial: Students shouldn't text and drive

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

In order to curb the dangerous practice of texting and driving, the Kansas Legislature should pass a law with a reasonable fine as the penalty, instead of leaving the decision up to the individual discretion of each police officer.

“A lot of people think they can drive safely while texting,” Sgt. Michael Monroe said in a Nov. 9 Kansan news story. “And that’s simply not the truth. Even if it’s just for a few seconds, those few seconds can make it unsafe for everyone around you.”

Right now, police in Kansas cannot pull someone over for texting alone.

If texting is found to be the cause of a traffic accident, the officer can write a ticket for inattentive driving.

This is not enough of a deterrent to stop texting.

Also, if someone is pulled over for another reason and is discovered to have been texting while driving, then officers may elect to write a ticket, but this does not directly address the issue and would be hard to enforce.

A law going into effect in January will prohibit those with a learner’s permit or other restricted license from operating cell phones or text-messaging devices while driving until six months after they turn 16.

A ban for young and inexperienced drivers is a good idea, but even older, experienced drivers should be deterred from driving distracted.

The punishment shouldn’t be extreme, but strong enough that drivers will think twice before texting and driving.

Repeat offenders should be at risk of losing their licenses for endangering other drivers. However, a law shouldn’t be necessary for students to start acting more responsibly.

Critics of these laws say it’s government intruding into the personal lives of citizens.

If texting while driving only endangered oneself, if it were a victimless crime, then it could be argued that the government was overstepping its bounds. But the facts are that texting while driving not only endangers oneself but everyone else on the road. A 2003 University of Utah study found it to be as impairing as drunk driving.

Drivers owe it to themselves, to their passengers, to pedestrians and to other drivers sharing the road to be a responsible driver. Feeling that the “right to drive distracted” is more important than the safety of others is not only dangerous, it’s selfish. How many text messages are truly worth risking a deadly car accident?

No one wants to get a fine for doing what they have been doing for years without a problem. However, a preventative action should be taken to ensure nothing does occur.

When texting and driving is putting other drivers in harm’s way, a specific law with a fine for a consequence should be a welcome alternative to an irreversible tragedy.

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