DWT … Virginia Law Makers Consider Law to Ban on Driving While Texting

DWT … Pay attention while you are driving …

There was a time when I was against such laws like using cell phones and texting while driving. However,  that is in the past. The fact that people cannot pay attention to the road and driving these days has gotten too far out of control. Virginia law makers are looking to make driving while texting or DWT illegal. Is it really asking that much to keep your hands on the wheel and stop texting?

Some Virginia lawmakers want drivers to take their thumbs off the keyboards and put them back on the steering wheel while cruising down Virginia’s roads.

They are tackling the problem of drivers who send, read and write messages on cellphones, PDAs and BlackBerrys. It’s a thoroughly modern distraction dubbed Driving While Texting or DWT.

The General Assembly, which began its 60-day session Wednesday, is considering a pair of bills that would ban texting while driving a car, bicycle, motorcycle, moped or even an electric wheelchair. Lawmakers in four other states, including Maryland, are considering similar proposals.

Virginia legislators have tried in recent years to ban handheld cellphone use by adult drivers but have not been successful. A year ago, they made it illegal for teenagers under 18 to talk, send text messages or snap photos with a cellphone while driving, but they can be cited only if they are stopped for another offense. (Washington Post)

People need to start paying attention while they drive. Frankly, the situation has gotten out of control these days. When is it that you do not pass by someone who is not paying attention while they are driving? Texting and cell phone use has been the reason for accidents and deaths, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. The texting accident case that received the most attention was the one where five Fairport High School teenagers, Bailey Goodman, Meredith McClure, Hannah Congdon, Sara Monnat and Katie Shirley were killed in a head on collision with a tractor trailer near Rochester, NY. Records indicate that the drivers phone was being used for texting prior to the fatal accident.

In these undated 2007 Fairport High School yearbook photos, Bailey Goodman, Meredith McClure, Hannah Congdon, Sara Monnat and Katie Shirley are shown. The five were killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer in East Bloomfield, N.Y., 20 miles from Rochester, just days after their high school graduation.  (Democrat & Chronicle/AP Photo)

“The records indicate her phone was in use,” Povero said. “We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. …

“We all certainly know that cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident,” he added.

Several minutes before the first 911 call came in, Goodman talked briefly with one of four fellow graduates who were trailing her in another vehicle. Two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a male friend who lived in a nearby town, Povero said. (ABC News)

Stop text messaging, drivers urged

Study: Text messaging causes driver errors: Clemson research finds texting drivers are 10 percent more likely to leave lane.