EDITORIAL: Better ideas needed to curb driver texting
If some Iowa lawmakers had their way, teens would have to put down their cell phones while driving.
A bill that was introduced earlier this week by State Rep. McKinley Bailey, D-Webster City, would make it illegal for drivers with instruction permits or intermediate licenses to talk on their cell phones or text message while driving.
If it were to pass, violators would be looking at a $30 penalty. But that's not all - teens with intermediate licenses must go a full year without a single ticket or citation to receive the upgrade to the unrestricted license.
"Not that it's a good thing to talk on the phone or text while you're driving, but somebody who has been driving for 20 years is probably more likely to pull it off than somebody who is brand new at it," Bailey said in a recent Des Moines Register article.
What was that, McKinley? You're talking about the generation who perfected multi-tasking. We're raised to simultaneously sip, type, talk and read for hours at a time. What does it matter that these teens haven't been driving as long? Take a look at how long those adults and senior citizens have been driving without cell phones.
We're not preaching that driving with one hand on your head is safe. It's not. But that shouldn't mean the finger is only pointed at teens.
Let's also talk potential logistics. How will law enforcement know which teen driver to pull over? If cops are going to be pulling over any person who looks underage, is that really the best way to be spending their time? It's not.
The law seems like it would never really do much to prevent the act itself. Lawmakers need to realize that cell phones aren't going anywhere and that most of the state lives in rural areas where driving is a must to get from place to place. It's time to accept that fact and develop other ideas. How about requiring car manufacturers to install cell phone receivers in each car they plan on selling?
A bill that was introduced earlier this week by State Rep. McKinley Bailey, D-Webster City, would make it illegal for drivers with instruction permits or intermediate licenses to talk on their cell phones or text message while driving.
If it were to pass, violators would be looking at a $30 penalty. But that's not all - teens with intermediate licenses must go a full year without a single ticket or citation to receive the upgrade to the unrestricted license.
"Not that it's a good thing to talk on the phone or text while you're driving, but somebody who has been driving for 20 years is probably more likely to pull it off than somebody who is brand new at it," Bailey said in a recent Des Moines Register article.
What was that, McKinley? You're talking about the generation who perfected multi-tasking. We're raised to simultaneously sip, type, talk and read for hours at a time. What does it matter that these teens haven't been driving as long? Take a look at how long those adults and senior citizens have been driving without cell phones.
We're not preaching that driving with one hand on your head is safe. It's not. But that shouldn't mean the finger is only pointed at teens.
Let's also talk potential logistics. How will law enforcement know which teen driver to pull over? If cops are going to be pulling over any person who looks underage, is that really the best way to be spending their time? It's not.
The law seems like it would never really do much to prevent the act itself. Lawmakers need to realize that cell phones aren't going anywhere and that most of the state lives in rural areas where driving is a must to get from place to place. It's time to accept that fact and develop other ideas. How about requiring car manufacturers to install cell phone receivers in each car they plan on selling?
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