Motortexter

Monday, I was driving on I-24 with JR riding shotgun. We were on the way to Nashville so he could help me move into my new home, and he was on the phone. The black Tacoma in front of us swerved carelessly.

“Are you seeing this,” I whispered, not wanting to interrupt his phone call.

“Yeah,” he whispered back.

The truck merged into the right lane, JR hung up his cell phone, and we continued on. Suddenly, I saw a streak of black move toward the passenger door. I gasped and swerved to the left rapidly, slightly off-roading my Alero. The tires ran across the ridges on the shoulder of the road, making the brrrrrrrr sounds that accompanied my blaring horn.

“What on earth is that guy doing?”

JR looked over at the truck as it slowed and said, “He’s texting!”

While we’re all guilty of talking on the phone while driving before it was illegal, texting is getting out of control. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “reports that distracted drivers account for almost 80% of all crashes and 65% of near-crashes in the United States”.  Last year, U.S. News and World Report published an article that an “estimated 20 percent of drivers are sending or receiving text messages while behind the wheel, according to a Nationwide Insurance study. And, according to another poll, that number skyrockets to 66 percent when drivers 18 to 24 are isolated.”

In Tennessee, it is illegal to text and drive (as of July this year). The Senate Bill 393 can be found at http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/106/Bill/SB0393.pdf and indicates getting caught is a Class C misdemeanor. However, I think that the fines and punishment should be harsher. USA Today wrote about a poll that indicates that 93% of people agree that it’s dangerous, but a whopping “42% of those surveyed said they thought drivers would actually stop texting if it were banned”. Things are illegal, but people continue to perform illegal activities when the punishment isn’t severe.

Even if a person is never caught, there are even more severe consequences that misdemeanors. U.S. News and World Report indicates “A fiery crash made headlines in June [2008] when five females…died in a collision with a tractor trailer just a week after graduating …high school. Police discovered the teenage driver had been texting moments before the crash.”

A video at  MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32549978#32549978) shows a graphic reenactment of teens crashing and dying during texting, but also evidence of other text-related crashes involving a bus and train.

All I know is that texting gave us a close call this week. I hope Tacoma Man’s message was really important.

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