Guest blog courtesy of Jim S. Adler & Associates, Houston, TX.
The new year brings new laws for Illinois motorists, and one is clearly designed to save lives – if not save people from themselves.
That’s the new statewide law banning texting while driving. It means you can’t compose, send or read a text message while operating a motor vehicle. The law also bans using anything but a hands-free cell phone to make or answer calls while driving in a construction or school zone.
The only exceptions for texting will be if a car is in neutral or park or if it is standing still while waiting in traffic. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2010.
You’d think accident statistics — and the sheer and present danger of texting while driving — would be enough to make people stop. Six thousand Americans died due to distracted driving last year, says the U.S. Department of Transportation. Yet many disregard such evidence – and teens are the worst.
Studies show the majority of teens are ignoring the growing number of laws banning texting while driving. (At least 20 states have such laws, and more are pending.) For them, texting is such a natural way of life that they see nothing abnormal about doing it while driving.
Teens also tend to underestimate their chances of having a serious collision while overestimating their ability to multi-task while operating a heavy machine traveling at high speeds (an automobile) through and around intricate and often surprising patterns and obstacles (traffic) while devoting much of their attention to sending or receiving messages on what they had for lunch.
Countless tragic cases show otherwise. Already, traffic accidents are the No. 1 killer of American teens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says teens are involved in three times as many fatal wrecks as other drivers. Also, drivers under 20 represent the largest portion of the nation’s distracted drivers.
Last year, 4,400 teens died in car accidents, and another 250,000 were injured, many of them seriously, with injuries such as paralysis, amputation or brain damage. Of fatal teen car accidents, more than 15 per cent involved distracted drivers who were texting or otherwise disengaged from their primary task of operating a motor vehicle.
Teen texting is epidemic, increasing tenfold in the past three years. While Illinois’ new law should help, much motorist safety depends on individual citizens – and parents. Studies by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia show that parents who urge caution by their kids and set driving boundaries give children a far greater chance of surviving into adulthood. When parents are actively involved, teens reduce by 30 per cent their risks from talking on a cell phone while driving.
Meanwhile, Illinois’ new texting law, while difficult to enforce, at least sends a similar message. In text-speak, it might as well be “AYSOS?” (Translated: Are you stupid or something?) Texting while driving can kill, so don’t do it. You shouldn’t need a law to make that decision for you.
Bruce Westbrook
Internet Writer/Editor
Jim S. Adler & Associates
Houston, TX