Families of crash victims urge lawmakers to ban texting while driving

[TexasTowelie]

Jeanne Brown brought a story of untimely death to the Capitol on Tuesday as she talked about her daughter Alex, who died at age 17 on a West Texas road. The blond-haired high school senior was driving to school in 2009. Texting while she drove, Alex Brown was killed when she ran off the road into a field near Wellman.

At the Capitol, Brown’s parents joined about a dozen other families who have lost loved ones because of distracted driving, calling on lawmakers to pass legislation that bans texting while driving. Nationwide, more than 15 people are killed, and 1,200 injured, every day in accidents involving distracted drivers, according to 2009 figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“To me, a law to make texting and driving illegal doesn’t take away a freedom I have. Instead, it sets a boundary for my behavior so I don’t hurt an innocent person,” said Jeanne Brown, who, along with her husband, formed the Remember Alex Brown Foundation. “To me, it’s a common-sense thing.”

Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, have filed identical bills — House Bill 63 and Senate Bill 28 — to create a statewide ban on texting while driving but face resistance from Gov. Rick Perry and other lawmakers.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/families-of-crash-victims-urge-lawmakers-to-ban-te/nT9hG/

[mbperrin]

1. This couple is from my hometown, and they were absolutely devastated by their loss.

I absolutely cannot understand Perry's problem with this - the insurance companies favor it, all the usual drunk driving and other bad driving against groups favor it.

I mean, who makes money off people texting and driving? Morticians?

Perhaps the dumbass Perry will leave it alone this time.

I hate that sonof...

[customerserviceguy]

2. Laws are nice

but enforcement is better. I see texting assholes nearly every day on the Garden State Parkway. I might see a cop once a month, and I drive in the prime rush hour traffic. Most laws here are just regarded as suggestions.

Just for shits and giggles, I love to look down at the cars that I suspect have texting drivers when I'm riding with my lady in her SUV. I can see right down next to me, and I will get her to honk the horn like crazy, and even if they cannot hear me, they will see me mouth the words, "Hang up and drive, asshole!!"

[WolverineDG]

3. It's a PITA to enforce, that's why nt

[customerserviceguy]

6. In NY and NJ

the cops seem to feel the same way about the speed laws, unfortunately.

We need to ban texting at the source, the telco companies. It's like one of those "fun" wars we get into, it seems like an OK idea, until the body count just gets too damned high.

[Ilsa]

4. Texas has a hands-free requirement while in school

zones, but I've seen that go without enforcement. Of course, texting falls under that when in a school zone.

I confess to having done it in the past, but I pull into a parking lot if I need to text or initiate a call.

What do you folks do? Turn off your phones? Pull over? Keep a headset on when you drive?

[TexasTowelie]

5. I'm guilty of taking those cell phone calls also.

I will rarely initiate a phone call while driving in urban areas, but if I do I check around to see that nobody is near me when I do it. I am a bit more lax when driving in rural areas with little traffic.

I won't text while driving though since it is too distracting. I'll pull over if I need to initiate a phone call when traffic is heavy or I need to respond to a text.

[customerserviceguy]

7. "Need to text"

Sit back, put your thinking cap on, and tell me what's wrong with that statement.

I guarantee, you didn't feel that need fifteen or twenty years ago.

[Ilsa]

8. No, twenty years ago I was looking for a phone

to use without going home or to the office. When you have kids in school or remember something you need to tell someone at work, a phone is an excellent thing to have. I've had many occasions when I've wanted to get a short but important message to someone.

While cell phones and texting aren't a "necessity", I think a strong convenience factor is why they are so successful for a lot of people. I've been able to coordinate and take care of a lot of personal business using my cell when I couldn't be home to do it.

[customerserviceguy]

9. Ok

Between hunting around for a working pay phone and texting while driving, we have a happy medium. You can pull over and make a call, or even use an approved hands (and eyes) free method such as a Bluetooth headset.

I was taking issue with your use of the words "need to text", and it seems that availability of this abomination has created a strong sense of need among the people who are addicted to this behavior. Like I always say, we're just waiting for the body count to pile up to a high enough level before we as a society get rid of it.

[TexasTowelie]

10. Working pay phone?

What decade are you from dude?

It seems like they vanished around the time of cassette tapes. Isn't there like only one in every rural town in Texas now? I think that there are only two or three here in Brenham.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Well, you could have found them in the Seventies

and perhaps even the Eighties, but I'll admit, they started to vanish in the Nineties. That's about the time that people who were not overly afraid of technology began to get a cell phone, even if it came in a big fat bag.

As for cassette tapes, my 2002 Hyundai Elantra still had a cassette deck, although I have to say, I much prefer the CD player on the 2012 Sonata Hybrid I traded it in on last month. Now I have all these cassette tapes, and not a damned thing to play them on!