Nothing to LOL about
Alyssa Mercadante
Issue date: 8/27/09 Section: National
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According to drivesmartva.org it is, "against the law for any person to operate a moving motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth of Virginia while using any handheld personal communications device to manually enter multiple letters or text in the device as a means of communicating with another person."
Texting while driving is a secondary offense. Drivers caught texting can receive a $20 fine for the first offense and $50 for a second offense, according to drivesmartva.org. A citation can only be issued if the officer has cause to stop or arrest the driver for something else.
Texting while driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving, according to a CNBC.com report. Car and Driver Magazine conducted a test to find out just how dangerous it can be. In the test they rigged a car with a red light to alert drivers when to brake and tested how long it took to brake when sober, when legally drunk at .08 and when sending a text.
"Driving 70 miles per hour on a deserted air strip, Car and Driver editor Eddie Alterman was slower and slower reacting and braking when texting," according to the CNBC.com report. "The results are scary."
It took Alterman .54 seconds to brake unimpaired, four feet to brake legally drunk and 70 feet sending a text.
Senior Liz Costa said she is always texting while driving and knew they had been trying to crack down on it, but didn't know that it is now illegal.
"I really don't see how they could catch us. I'm pretty good at texting without looking so I just hold it in my lap," Costa said. "When I see a cop on the road I sometimes panic that they know I'm texting so I just close the message and throw my phone in my bag without sending the message so that they can't search my phone and see that I sent a message at the same time they pulled me over."
Teens say texting is their number one driver distraction, according to the Roanoke Times and Norfolk Examiner. In 2008, "114 people died and 14,480 were injured in Virginia in 28,395 crashes that involved driver distraction," according to the article "New law to ban texting while driving" in the Roanoke Times. It is unclear how many of those crashes were related to texting or sending e-mails.
Junior Carmen Johnson said she is aware of these statistics and understands the dangers of texting while driving.
"I will admit that I use to text a lot while driving; however, I realize how dangerous it is to myself as well as others on the road," Johnson said in an e-mail. "With that said I try really hard not to use my phone while driving. I typically leave my phone in my purse or turn it on silent to reduce the temptation of using it while driving. Statistics have shown that many accidents are caused by distractions of cell phones; and I do not want to become part of those statistics."
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia now ban texting for all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Exceptions to the law are made for responding emergency vehicles and those reporting an emergency, according to drivesmartva.org.