Michigan’s new law against texting while driving sparked a spirited “discussion” in the LSJ newsroom yesterday, as I’m sure it will in countless other venues in the coming weeks and months.
My colleague, John Schneider, questioned how the police could determine when a driver was texting or engaging in some other, still legal, use of his cell phone. He deems the new law difficult, it not impossible, to enforce.
He’s right. And that’s a good thing. And, no, I don’t think people should be sending or receiving texts while operating a hurtling, 3,000-pound machine.
My colleague, John Schneider, questioned how the police could determine when a driver was texting or engaging in some other, still legal, use of his cell phone. He deems the new law difficult, it not impossible, to enforce.
He’s right. And that’s a good thing. And, no, I don’t think people should be sending or receiving texts while operating a hurtling, 3,000-pound machine.
Enforcing this little law will inevitably highlight the fundamental failure of the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Jennifer Granholm: You don’t ban texting without banning the use of cell phones by drivers, period.
The research, to date, is quite one-sided: Using cell phones makes a person into the equivalent of a drunken driver. And, yes, it’s worse than talking to a car passenger. And, yes, it’s just as bad hands-free as hand-held. Go here, here, here and here for more.
The truth is, we all know this. We’ve seen the erratic driving. We’ve made or repeated the requisite jokes. Then, in grand human fashion, we tell ourselves that we're different. I can drive and talk. I’m not a problem. Nothing bad will happen. I have to make this call, right now!
So why the halfhearted measure? Why allow the equivalent of drunks to legally drive?
Look no further than this line from a 2008 corporate report: “Teens (ages 13-19) and young adults (ages 20-29) are the most inclined to use text messaging, each with 85 percent currently using texting to some extent.”
Texting isn’t the biggest threat, it’s the easiest to punish politically (Those darned kids and their texting!) Legislators don’t want to give up their phones any more than their constituents do. And if I’ve learned anything about Michigan legislators after a decade of close observation, it’s that they’ll always take the easy route. They’ll always look for a way not to impose any burden on themselves.
And please don’t bore all of us with claims about the right to call, or that we should mind our own business. Michigan and America crossed that bridge long ago. Using a phone makes a driver dangerous to other drivers, and we already require seat belts to ensure drivers’ bad choices don’t inflict greater medical costs on society as a whole.
The U.S.S. "freedom in your own car" has sailed. All you are left with is the nanny state and the research that says one thing -- and one thing only -- about cell phones: They’re bad news.
