Phones today may be smart. Those who use phones while driving however are not so smart. The number of deaths resulting from texting while driving, or distracted driving, is horrific. What does it take to stop distracted driving?
Some say law enforcement needs to crack down on e-mobile device usage. The difficulty is that it is hard to enforce something that cannot be seen, like drunk driving. If a driver is weaving all over the place on the road, chances are they are under the influence of something. They get pulled over and are charged. Detecting a texting driver is not always as clear-cut.
Currently, local and state police in Texas and other jurisdictions are holding out optimism that cell phone bans will become second nature to drivers, just like buckling up the seatbelts. While an interesting point of view, it’s difficult to equate doing up your seatbelt with not texting while you drive. It’s a known fact that smartphone usage is addictive, and many drivers consider having one and using it while driving to be a necessity.
Will cell phone bans accomplish what they are intended to do: reduce the number of preventable accidents and deaths? While this may be the case, at some point in the future, it is hard to see how that may work when cell phone users consider using such a device while driving isn’t any more dangerous than opening and closing a bottle of water.
It may be a long, uphill battle to get people to stop texting while driving, despite the deadly consequences.