Should there be a nationwide ban on texting while driving?

September 30, 12:26 PMFord ExaminerMike Karagozian

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Learn to keep your eyes on the road.

The vast majority of U.S. drivers believes handheld texting while driving is very dangerous and should be banned nationwide, according to a new national survey released by Ford Motor Company.

Federal ban on texting?
Distracted driving is a serious problem that will only get worse as more and more gadgets find their way into our cars and trucks.  The morning news & talk shows are buzzing about distracted drivers and the need for a federal ban on texting and cell phone use.   Ford's survey stirred the pot. 

Texting "very dangerous"
The survey was conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates on behalf of Ford Motor Company. The survey showed that 86 percent of U.S. drivers believe handheld texting while driving is “very dangerous” and 93 percent support a nationwide ban on texting.

At the same time, only 42 percent of respondents believe drivers would stop texting behind the wheel if the practice was banned. However, more than 75 percent believe there would be more compliance if hands-free or voice-activated technologies were widely available.

The survey was conducted September 18-21, 2009, among a nationwide sample of 1,000 licensed U.S. adult drivers aged 18 years and older.

Even pilots get distracted
The controversy over distracted driving reminds me of a lesson I learned when I was getting my private pilot’s license. I was flying with my instructor when he asked me to calculate how long it would take to reach our destination. I looked down at a map on my clipboard and was studying it carefully when my instructor yelled, “Are you flying this airplane, mister?”  When I looked up, the plane was in a steep bank and 90 degrees off course.  Like a typical student pilot, I allowed myself to become distracted. I should have been looking outside the cockpit, keeping the wings level and maintaining control of the airplane.

Drivers should multi-task like pilots
I never made that mistake again as a pilot and the lesson applies to driving a car on the ground. Pilots learn to multi-task because they have to. They can’t pull over and stop to look at a map or change a frequency on the radio. Drivers on the ground should also learn to multi-task.  Multi-tasking should be included in every driver's education curriculum, along with a lesson on distracted driving. 

According to a Ford press release, the most recent and most complete research shows that distractions that take drivers’ eyes away from the road for an extended period of time are a factor in nearly 80 percent of accidents. The Ford survey also revealed confusion among drivers over existing state laws that prohibit handheld cell phone use and/or texting while driving. Currently 18 states have enacted such bans but nearly 40 percent of drivers in these states indicated they were unaware of the ban in their own state.  The calls for a nationwide ban on texting while driving are getting louder. 

Don't single out cell phones and texting
It would be wrong to single out cell phones and text messaging. We’ve all seen drivers eating, sipping coffee, applying makeup, shaving, making out, singing along with the radio, combing their hair, yelling at the kids in the back seat or just plain daydreaming when they should be concentrating on the task at hand: driving.

Do we really need a federal law to make us pay attention?

Years ago, a friend of mine was reading a magazine(!) while driving to work when he drove off the pavement, down an embankment and rolled his car. Other than his pride, his only injury was a dislocated shoulder. Too bad there wasn’t an instructor sitting in the right seat next to my friend, yelling, “Are you driving this car, mister?”
 
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Photo:  Ford Motor Company