Texting & Driving Ban
So I'm sure everyone knows by now, texting and driving is not very safe. In fact, it's the leading cause of car accidents among teenagers and young adults. But do you know what we're doing to combat it? As of right now, there is a texting and driving ban in place. The way it works is that drivers can only be charged with texting while driving if they are pulled over for another reason first. For example, you can pulled over for speeding and then given a ticket for texting as well. Law enforcement cannot pull someone over just because they see them texting and driving. This ban has been in affect since October of 2013, and has resulted in very few citations. It's not a real law, so it's not taken seriously by most people.
Lawmakers in Brevard County are looking to add some more restrictions to the ban. They don't want texting to be considered a secondary offense. State Senator Thad Altman, along with other lawmakers, is proposing that texting while driving should be a primary offense. They see texting while driving as a serious safety risk and think that the punishment for doing it must be more severe. If a cop sees you texting on your phone while driving, he or she should be able to pull you over for that reason solely.
However there are opponents of this view that say instead of making a new law, a better awareness campaign is needed to stop distracted driving. They argue that people care less about laws and more about facts. A good awareness campaign that informs drivers about the real consequences of texting while driving would be more effective than a law. Once you know the statistics and are aware of the dangers of texting, you are way less likely to do it. This is definitely going to be a difficult battle. It took several years for state lawmakers to pass the original texting and driving ban, so who knows how long it'll take to have an actual law passed for it. If you would like to learn more about texting while driving and the bans associated with it click HERE.
Source: http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/3/4/lawmakers_propose_st.html
