In Support of the Distracted Driving Bill - Essay Example

The concern of others like Mr. Sauer have been heard. But our state congress has decided that it is not important an issue enough for them to pay attention to. But there are some, like state Sens. John McGee and Les Bock who sponsor the “Distracted Driving “ bill . We need to protect our motorists from the misuse of the very technology was that created to help save lives before it claims any more lives in the future. Although the bill has widespread public support, it died because of politicking or, in the words of Conservative activist Wayne Hoffman who considered it a ““stupid law” that was difficult to enforce because no one can tell if a driver is texting or just twiddling his thumbs.

“ (Russel, 2010). The time has come however, to revive this bill and pass it in the state senate. Consider that cellular phones now come with hands free kits for cars and you begin to wonder why a driver would rather type out words while driving when he can always speed dial a number. The National Safety council statistics on texting while driving show that at “least 200,000 crashes a year are caused by drivers who are texting. “ (Graham, 2011). These accidents are usually caused because texting drivers have proven to have a slower response time than drunk drivers.

Texting while driving accidents also come at a financial cost to the driver. In these days of economic problems, the last thing one would want to see is an increase in his insurance premiums, which is exactly what happens each time a driver is involved in a distracted driving incident. further information from car insurance comparison.com (2011) explains that the economic impact is quite high and that , “avoiding accidents is the only way to keep rates manageable as even one accident boosts your premium by about 10%, subsequent accidents quickly mount to 30, 50 and then eventually almost doubling your costs by your third accident.

“ Then there are also the legal implications of the accident. Although there are only fines involved for such accidents, the guilty party will now have a police record and have to show up in court even if only to pay the fine and face the possibility of other punishments or legal actions that may be enforced within criminal or civil courts for any damage to property, or physical being that may have been incurred. The American culture of risk taking is definitely at the forefront of the distracted driving problem.

Looked at in the historical context, texting while driving accidents comprise 21 % of adult driving accidents while 46% of teens admit to the same. (car insurance comparison.com, 2011). Even the leaders of the transportation sector see the need for specialized anti- texting while driving laws quoting the fact that “sixty Idaho fatalities resulted from distracted driving crashes in 2009, representing 27 percent of all crashes. “ (2011). It is easy to see how such accidents can have a costly toll on the finances of a person.

After all, distracted driving affects 3 driving components: visual, manual and cognitive. (Harmer, 2011). The Idaho Press Tribune (2011) states that those who do not support the bill do so because our police officers can issue tickets for violation of reckless driving due to “circumstances where the conduct of the operator has been inattentive, careless or imprudent.”