Last year, the Monroe Times editorial board took an opinion that was, well, unpopular.
We voiced our opposition to legislation that would ban texting on a cell phone while driving an automobile in Wisconsin. It was our stance, then, that it was not the government's place to legislate behavior inside an individual's vehicle.
Partially because of the responses we received counter to our position, we're going to take a different view today.
We'll start by asking what's the difference between a 40-year-old driver searching for, then changing, a compact disc while driving, compared to a 17-year-old?
Experience, of course, but in the end, drivers of both age groups still are distracted from the main focus, which is keeping their eyes on the road.
It doesn't matter how much experience you have behind the wheel if you aren't looking where you're going.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that driver distractions or inattentive driving contribute to 1 out of every 4 motor vehicle crashes in the United States. That's more than 1.5 million collisions a year, or more than 4,300 crashes a day.
If an elderly woman walked out in front of your car at an intersection and you didn't see her because you were focused on, say, the screen of a cell phone, would it matter if you had 25 years behind the wheel or one? Of course not.
Texting while driving is a particularly distracting practice. The activity not only takes your eyes off the road, it requires at least one hand to perform. More importantly, texting demands mental focus to ensure the message is sent correctly. So, not only is the driver not looking at the road, he isn't even thinking about it.
The Wisconsin Senate will take a second look at addressing this type of distracted driving at the committee level today. Unfortunately, it still would allow people 18 and older to text while driving. In 2007, the Senate passed a bill banning anyone from texting while driving, but the measure died in the Assembly.
No one should be allowed to essentially disengage from the activity of driving. The risk is remarkable, as evidenced by the crash statistics above.
The stance the state Legislature should take would not put Wisconsin alone on an island of heavy-handed driving regulations. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia currently ban texting while driving regardless of age, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, a Washington D.C.-based highway safety advocacy group.
Nine other states have laws similar to the one being discussed in the Senate. The bill to ban drivers under 18 from texting while driving also would impose fines of $20 to $400, which would be the same as those for inattentive driving, according to the Associated Press.
Though driving experience might help you avoid a crash, or mitigate the damage, it's useless if you lose control of a vehicle due to a distraction like texting. The bill is a good step, but the measure would be more effective by dropping the age limitation before proceeding through the Legislature.
We voiced our opposition to legislation that would ban texting on a cell phone while driving an automobile in Wisconsin. It was our stance, then, that it was not the government's place to legislate behavior inside an individual's vehicle.
Partially because of the responses we received counter to our position, we're going to take a different view today.
We'll start by asking what's the difference between a 40-year-old driver searching for, then changing, a compact disc while driving, compared to a 17-year-old?
Experience, of course, but in the end, drivers of both age groups still are distracted from the main focus, which is keeping their eyes on the road.
It doesn't matter how much experience you have behind the wheel if you aren't looking where you're going.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that driver distractions or inattentive driving contribute to 1 out of every 4 motor vehicle crashes in the United States. That's more than 1.5 million collisions a year, or more than 4,300 crashes a day.
If an elderly woman walked out in front of your car at an intersection and you didn't see her because you were focused on, say, the screen of a cell phone, would it matter if you had 25 years behind the wheel or one? Of course not.
Texting while driving is a particularly distracting practice. The activity not only takes your eyes off the road, it requires at least one hand to perform. More importantly, texting demands mental focus to ensure the message is sent correctly. So, not only is the driver not looking at the road, he isn't even thinking about it.
The Wisconsin Senate will take a second look at addressing this type of distracted driving at the committee level today. Unfortunately, it still would allow people 18 and older to text while driving. In 2007, the Senate passed a bill banning anyone from texting while driving, but the measure died in the Assembly.
No one should be allowed to essentially disengage from the activity of driving. The risk is remarkable, as evidenced by the crash statistics above.
The stance the state Legislature should take would not put Wisconsin alone on an island of heavy-handed driving regulations. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia currently ban texting while driving regardless of age, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, a Washington D.C.-based highway safety advocacy group.
Nine other states have laws similar to the one being discussed in the Senate. The bill to ban drivers under 18 from texting while driving also would impose fines of $20 to $400, which would be the same as those for inattentive driving, according to the Associated Press.
Though driving experience might help you avoid a crash, or mitigate the damage, it's useless if you lose control of a vehicle due to a distraction like texting. The bill is a good step, but the measure would be more effective by dropping the age limitation before proceeding through the Legislature.
