Texting while driving goes into effect this week. I am going to editorialize for a moment… I fully support this ban. It’s about time. I have covered too many crashes where the driver was texting behind the wheel. When you’re driving, you should be driving… not dialing, not eating, not putting on makeup, and certainly not texting. Not to get preachy – but you cause crash, and hurt or kill someone, you can’t take it back. It’s not worth it. I know a lot of people disagree, but behind the wheel is the last place a person should be distracted.
About a year and a half ago, I met Russ Hurd from Harford County, whose daughter Heather was killed in Florida when a truck driver was texting while driving and crashed into her and her fiancée Heather’s parents were visiting from Harford County to help her plan her wedding. Heather and her fiancée were on their way to meet her parents and a wedding planner when she was killed. The Hurd’s have been very brave in getting the texting ban in place. It must have been so hard for them to crusade for this in the midst of their grief. But they did and I applaud their courage and strength.
Here’s the tricky part… the part that baffles me. The new ban makes it illegal for a driver to write or send a text, but a driver
can read a text.
What!?! Maybe it’s just me – but I think that’s ridiculous. First of all, reading behind the wheel isn’t safe. Secondly – it makes it harder for police to determine who is writing and who is reading. Can you read a magazine while driving…? Or play Nintendo? Why not just make both illegal? It seems gutless. Will it take drivers reading texts behind the wheel and causing crashes before that is made illegal? Feel free to comment below.
