“What is for dinner” or “On my way home” are common things people may be texting today. What can make these ordinary comments dangerous is if they are texted while driving. Texting while driving is unsafe. An estimated 16,000 people have died texting while driving between the years 2001-2007. Therefore, this distraction is now a popular target for law enforcement agents to focus on. Officers need to keep the road safe from distracted drivers but with technology changing, they are having a hard time keeping up.
Police are in the process of cracking down on texting and driving. The law is that the driver is not supposed to use any “text based communications” behind the wheel. This means that the driver cannot create messages, read messages, or read any other written communication composed on a wireless interactive device. On the other hand, the driver is able to use their phone to dial and make calls.
The problem is, how can an officer distinguish between dialing or texting? This is becoming a bigger concern because if an officer accuses you of texting while driving, the only evidence they have are your text messages. In order for the officer to prove that you sent out a text is to seize your phone and go through it. The question is, are police allowed to seize the phone without a warrant. The Fourth Amendment protects you from illegal search and seizers and sets the boundaries for warrants. In these cases the courts have decided that the officers can seize your phone and search through it in most situations.
To ensure the safety of the roads and to protect people's privacy from illegal search and seizers, it would be better and easier if all electronic devices were banned from use while driving. Not only would this allow the driver to focus on the road and prevent harm to others and themselves, it also means that if the driver is found using a device while driving the police can write up a ticket without having to confiscate the phone and go through it. Banning electronic devices makes a clear-cut statement that you will be charged a fine if caught using a phone. In doing this hopefully more drivers will take the law seriously and leave their devices in their bags, purses or pockets and wait to use them till they get to their destination.
Links:
Denis O’Malley. New law banning texting while driving to be enforced. Thetimes-Tribune. 5/07/2012. http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/new-law-banning-texting-while-driving-to-be-enforced-thursday-1.1282146#axzz1oT1yQtTp.
Priscilla Alvarez. State may tighten texting and driving rules. Collegiate Times. 02/12/2012. http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/19252/state-may-tighten-texting-and-driving-rules
This is an interesting post, between 2001-2007 16,000 people have died texting while driving is a crazy number, but its also very sad. You make a good point they should just ban all electronic devices all together, its much easier and less of a hassle. Even if they did ban cell phones, there are still a lot of people that will still use their phones, I see it all the time, people just don't care. I do not think it is that hard to not use your phone for a couple minutes when your driving.
ReplyDeleteI agree that phone use shouldn't be allowed while driving a car. However, I do think that certain exceptions should be made if the person is currently in an emergency. But how can a police officer tell if someone who is on the phone has an emergency? If that police officer in turn pulls over that person, what rules should he/she follow if that person is truly in the middle of an emergency? Such guidelines should be made in order to bypass the foggy areas in this new law. Also, many car manufactures are including cell phone communications into the car such as blue tooth technology, phone chargers and places to keep your phone. My family just bought a new car and it has all of this. It even reads out the texts and you can choose to respond to the text with your own voice. Should this be also allowed? Hopefully, we can figure out laws that keep everyone safe and can also correlate with the new technologies that are being developed in the vehicle industry.
ReplyDeleteI recently wrote one of my blogs about this same topic. Phone usage on the roadways should be a strict law and I think that people should take is seriously because people can get harmed. Meghan stated above that it would be hard for an officer to determine if a call is an actual emergency. I agree that it could be difficult, but we all know real emergencies when we hear them. It all ties back in discrimination and I feel that officers should be harsh unless it is an emergency such as going to the hospital for a family problem or even if it's something regarding children. We learned in class of how simple procedures play out and majority of the time when it comes to texting or on the phone while driving a police officer is going to be hard on that individual. Overall it is the protection of innocent people that they happen to have in their best interest.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with the law to ban texting while driving. The problem is I know that everyone in our class does it. At the rate of conversation these days having a long drive with no means to communicate can make all the difference in classes, social life, and even money matters. I think that there are plenty of options to make using cell phones while driving safer, but overall it is something that if not regularly enforced will have very little impact. Truth is that until the law affects someone directly they will continue to break it.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with the law to ban texting while driving. I can’t lie I have done it number of times, and I have cut back a lot. It will save lives of the person that texting and driving and also others on the road from the people that are texting. It is a needed law. When you are using the phone and driving you are not 100% focused on the road. We need drivers 100% focused on the road.
ReplyDeleteI agree that texting and driving should be illegal. Two summers ago, my car was totaled by a driver who was texting, ran a red light, and hit me. Luckily, I was not hurt at all, but my car was gone. Before this happened to me, I had always been very careful to only text at red lights - never while moving. Since then, I make sure that I do not even do this. When people do this, they are still not paying attention even though they are stopped and usually are too busy texting to go when the light turns green. In terms of enforcement, it is difficult for police officers to distinguish between people who are texting and people who are just dialing, but I don't really think that there's much of a difference. If you have to look at your phone to dial a number to call, you may as well just text since you are not looking at the road. If nothing else, stopping somebody for texting may be enough to scare them so that they are less likely to do it in the future.
ReplyDeleteTexting and driving we have seen as of late can cause very serious injury. Some people just do not know how to multitask and this leads to problems. I my self txt and drive, but I guess i should really stop and think how harful it can be to myself and people around me. I think people being aware of this is very good and helpful. Know, enforcing this law seems very hard because I do not think a police officer has the right to seize your phone because they "think" you were txting and driving. Maybe a new solution will arise that will handle txting and driving, but for now having public awareness on the topic is very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the crackdown on texting while driving. I didn’t realize the number of fatalities was so high, that makes me agree with it even more! I’ll admit that in the past I have had close encounters (almost getting in an accident while texting), and those taught me that it’s just not worth it. Something so important that you feel you need to respond to right away is not going to be important at all anymore if you are dead, paralyzed, injured, or facing penalties.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good point that it is hard to discern between texting and making a call, but I don’t think it should make a difference, and I don’t think an officer should have the right to look through your text messages to prove it. If you are looking at your cell phone instead of the road, you should be guilty without further question or investigation.
I have thought about this many times while using the GPS on my cell phone. It looks like I’m texting but I’m not… at the same time, I think it is just as dangerous to be looking at a GPS or dialing a phone number as it is to be texting. Either way you are looking at something besides the road and trying to multitask while operating a vehicle. I think the only cell phone use that should really be allowed while driving is Bluetooth speaker phone, so you don’t have to take your hands off the wheel or eyes off the road at any time.
I agree with the whole Texting ban. For me, i used to not do it, then only at stops, then not at all. lately i have done it rarely, usually when stopped again. I am really trying to not do it because i have done a research on it, and i know how bad it is, but as lame as it sounds, i have forgotten. I don't think all should phone usage should be eliminated necessarily because phone calls could be ok. I know i just came back from an 11.5 hr one way trip to Mississippi and if i hadnt been talking on my phone i wouldve been incredible bored on the interstate with no vehicles! Overall i agree with most the people here who are ok with using phone for calls, and punishing those who text, which had been me!!
ReplyDeleteTexting while walking on the quad should also be banned. Since 2007, I have been run into by at least 20 people texting. Anyway. .
ReplyDeleteNice blog and topic. Texting while driving should be banned. It is amazing how many people pull up to a stoplight and the first thing they do is grab their phone and begin texting someone. The explosion of Twitter and other apps for iPhones do not make this situation any better, either. The road is already full of distractions and now everyone has a touch phone that they are constantly on using up all their Unlimited Data and Unlimited Texting. Just because it's unlimited, does not mean you should text every second of every day. The advancement of technology is definitely scary. Also, the age at which people begin using cell phones is definitely lowering. I got a cell phone when I was 17 and my 7 year old cousin got one for Christmas this past year. What the hell does a 7 year old need a cell phone for? Hope she isn't using it while she's driving around her big wheel.
I agree with the laws banning texting and the laws banning cell phones in general. I also feel that a lot of people try to hide the fact they are breaking this law which makes it that much worse and that much more unsafe.
ReplyDeleteI think banning texting while driving is completely fair. I only agree with banning talking on the phone to a certain degree. If you have an earpiece you should be able to talk because you have both hands free. Not using your phone at all while you are driving is probably where they are going (the government I mean). It would be alot safer if people could just focus on driving and not the conversation they are having with someone else on the phone.
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