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Driving Dangers While Texting
05/18/09 - 03:24 PM
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Most of us have cell phones these days.  They have become a part of our life.  And many people do more than just talk on their cell phone.  Texting, is also a popular way to communicate with others.  But, the problem comes when a person is trying to drive a vehicle and text on their phone… at the same time.
In this on your side Problem Solver, information to think about before you drive and text. 

Driving is much more of a challenge these days.  You just don’t know what the other drivers are doing… and texting on a cell phone does not help.  To text, you have to take your eyes off the road for the most part to look at the keypad.
Bay County driver Lauren Oramas says, “I do a lot of texting…I try my hardest not to do that (behind the wheel).  I wouldn’t want to endanger myself or anyone else.”
According to Corporal Donnie Chapman of the Florida Highway Patrol, “Anytime you have got a driver that is doing something other than paying attention to the road … it is creating a hazard.”  Corporal Chapman is one of many law officers trying to keep our roads safe.

The Florida Legislature did not act on bills proposed on texting while driving this year…but other states have acted.  According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, text messaging is banned for all drivers in these eleven states Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, and Washington and the District of Columbia.
Corporal Chapman says, “You see a lot of people on cell phones talking and then when we are in a patrol car people put their phones down so the time you see most of it is when you stop in a traffic light in your own vehicle.  It slows down reaction times by having to look up and see something’s going wrong in front of you and it doubles the time it takes for you to react.”  The trooper says, “the given and accepted perception reaction time… that’s the time you look and see something’s going wrong and it takes you to comprehend that and react by applying brakes or swerving is one point six seconds.”  But, he says, being distracted by texting or anything else while driving, increases that reaction time.  Corporal Chapman says, according to National Highway Safety studies, “It is double to at least three seconds it takes to perceive and react to what’s in front of you.  When you are going 80 feet per second…you cover a lot of ground in three seconds.”

The trooper says pay attention to your driving; pretend the other driver is somebody you care about.

For more information, click here.