Reports in the US have stated that speaking on a mobile phone, texting or even the use of a hands-free kit can increase the likelihood of being involved in a car accident.
Drivers, across the pond have been found to be taking their hands off the steering wheel to send texts on their mobiles, which poses a big danger as it takes their attention away from the road and increases the chance of them being involved with a car accident.
In Maryland; US, as with other parts of the country, text messaging has become a favorite pastime for several people. However victims of
car accidents know that texting is actually a big problem.
Auto accident experts and politicians in America are suggesting that mobile phone texting could be the drunk driving of the 21st Century. Text messaging while driving - which is already banned in neighboring states - will be against the law in Maryland from the 1st October 2009.
Results relating to a driver's inattention of personal injury and traffic fatalities have been noted by the Maryland auto accident law office. The findings showed that much like driving while intoxicated, which results in impaired judgment and reduced reaction time, texting can be just as dangerous since the activity can cause a driver to be highly distracted as well.
Extremely common among young drivers a study last year by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that about half of drivers ages 18 to 24 text messages behind the wheel at least occasionally. Text messaging is becoming more and more popular and this is a worry to road safety figures.
Texting a big danger for drivers
With many instances of
personal injury accidents and traffic fatalities attributable to driver inattention, the use of cell phones, and texting in particular, was apparently the next big problem to impact safety on Maryland’s highways and byways.
A Harvard Center for Risk Analysis study, completed in 2003 found that using a mobile phone while driving contributed to six per cent of crashes and some 2,600 deaths each year. Those figures are sure to have risen during the intervening six years.
A Senate panel on June 17 approved a legislation that will ban texting while driving. The measure would affect drivers across the country. Violators would face a $50 fine and a $200 civil penalty if they are involved in an
accident, stemming from the use of a mobile phone.
The legislation allows a one-month grace period, where law enforcers may issue a verbal warning to motorists during the month of January 2010, with the law taking full effect on 1st February, 2010.
Steve Farley, a Democrat from Tucson, has introduced similar legislation in each of the three most recent sessions, including this year.His bills could not even get a committee hearing.
Text ban legislation
However, the bill exempts law enforcers and safety personnel, drivers of emergency vehicles, commercial drivers, people who are reporting criminal behaviour and people who are making emergency calls. Therefore people who fall into these categories can use their mobiles while driving.
Another senator, Mr Ron Gould, who is also a Lake Havasu City Republican, led the charge to kill similar legislation by offering an amendment that he said “illustrates absurdity by being absurd."
He said: "It's essentially a Fourth Amendment violation. You have no idea whether somebody was talking on the phone, you know, whether he was dialling a number or whether he was texting. It wouldn't be too difficult to pull up last year's amendment."
Motorists in the United States were advised to avoid using your mobile phone while driving and definitely not text if you are operating a vehicle in traffic. With the increase in the number of smart phones coming on the market, any effort to reduce distractions behind the wheel will improve everyone's chances of arriving at their next destination alive and well.
But if the drivers choose not to heed this suggestion, Maryland's new texting while driving law may just net them a hefty fine in the future.
