Roslyn Lee - Comments

The primary responsibility of the motor vehicle driver is to operate his or her vehicle in a manner that is safe for themselves and others on the road. When driving at a slow or fast speed it is imperative that the driver maintains full attention and is keenly aware of his/her surroundings at all times. Texting can distract drivers causing an unnecessary risk and harm to themselves and others. Therefore, the best and safest thing to do while driving is to refrain from using ones cell phone to text-while-driving. It has become very apparent to any safe driver on the road who has had a close call of an impending car crash or even possible bodily injury while trying to walk across an intersection from an inattentive driver who is texting instead of watching the road, that it should not take a law but common sense to know that it is wrong and a stupid thing to do. I am in total agreement and am very pleased that legislation banning texting-while- driving has been introduced by Transportion Secetray Ray LaHood. This legislation is the catalyst this country needed to get the message across that this type of behavior will not be tolerated and one that will help make the roads a little safer to drive on. Other states have joined in this cause and have enacted laws addressing this serious problem. Laws alone will not fix this problem it will take every driver on the road to do it. “The U. S. Governement have taken on this cause and on Oct 1, 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order banning texting while driving Government owned vehicles or privately owned vehicles while on official Government business or from texting-while-driving using wireless electronic devices supplied by the Government.” (NHTSA, Sample Law to Prevent Texting While Driving, Feb 2010) Military bases have gone even further and made it against the law to do this while on any military instillation. Now it seems to me that if the military can recognize the inherent risks involved with this type of behavior that the civilian sector can also. I am very pleased that in 2009, 19 states and the District of Columbia had enacted legislation banning texting-while-driving for all drivers and over 200 driver distraction bills introduced. (NHTSA, Sample Law to Prevent Texting While Driving, Feb 2010) Now it is up to state legislatures to take a proactive role and make them into law. As technology grows and becomes a greater extension of our daily lives we must be cognizant of its helpfulness and most importantly dangers that it can bring to our lives. Laws are enacted to protect us from ourselves when we choose not to do it on our own. Texting –while-driving is a serious problem that I believe a law with serious consequences to the violator along with everyone’s help can fix.