So many of us are guilty of it, but we never think about the consequences.
Pennsylvania has just recently passed the new law banning texting while driving, making it fully illegal for all drivers to use hand-held devices to send text messages while driving their vehicle. There has yet to be a law passed banning all cell phone use in our state, but it could be following shortly.
Since this law has been in effect (March 8, 2012) there have not been a large numbers of fines issued. A lot of cops have stated that it is incredibly hard to really catch someone texting while driving. On a recent news report it was stated that many people are now trying to send text messages from a lower position, towards the bottom of their steering wheel, rather than closer to their face. This actually makes it even more dangerous because they are making their visibility window more narrow and the chance of causing an accident much larger.
Although the number of $50 fines issued in our state is still low, the majority of the tickets were given to teenagers and young adults from 16-25. There were a few "older" citizens that had to gather up the $50, too though. I'm sure this isn't surprising to many of us, that the majority of the tickets were given to younger citizens, being that most of them are incredibly reliant on technology.
The image above is of course from a few months ago. Since the info-graphic was created, there have been a few more states added to the picture, Pennsylvania being one of them. But the image does show a few statistics describing how often certain age groups text while driving and also how much more likely you are to cause an accident while using your cell phone.
Are you guilty of texting while driving, even if it is on a rare occasion?
Do you think that this new law will actually stop people from doing it?
I find it funny that people thing it can't be seen if the hold the phone lower to text, especially at night...it reflects off the windshields! I'm all for not texting while driving, but I'm curious if you know whether it's illegal in PA to text while at a complete stop (as in a stop ight, a stop sign or pulled over on the side of a road)?
ReplyDeleteThe thing with that, especially at the stop sign, how many would stop - text - go and not pay attention to what just happened. So they stopped, someone sees they are not going, then they go -- BANG! Makes me shudder at the consiquences.
DeleteI think people should actually think for change. I realize the importance of cell phones but it annoys me to no end see people who are paying more attention to what's going on in their hand (be it they are talking or texting) rather than paying attention to where they are going. It's a good think I pay attention to what's going on around me, it has probably saved the other persons life as well as mine.
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