Utah Cracks Down on Texters- Finally, a State that Cares about its Drivers

An article by Brad    3 Comments

When people think of Utah, the first thing that comes to mind is Mormons.  The second is polygamy.  Well, add a third thing to you list of descriptions of this desert state: Harsh.

 Harsh when it comes to texting laws.  And I couldn’t be happier, and I look forward to other states implementing such laws.  As you know from previous angrydentist posts, I hate the idea of anyone doing anything while driving except for driving.  Talking on the phone is dangerous enough, and texting is even more so.

 It’s a shame that a tragedy has to occur before our state governments move on these things.  In this case, a car carrying two scientists was traveling down a road, minding their own business on their way to work, when a driver coming the opposite direction swerved into them, clipping the car, and forcing it into the path of a truck.

 They died on impact.

 In most states, the problem with charging someone with a texting offense begins with proving that the offender understood that texting was dangerous.  Utah has shown some common sense in this regard: The law now assumes that if you are smart enough to earn a drivers license, you are smart enough to understand the dangers of texting.  First problem out of the say.  The next issue is to prove that the driver was actually texting at the time of the accident, but court subpoenas can do that.

 In Utah, causing an accident while texting is no longer considered an “accident”.  It is on par with drunk driving, an act of willful negligence.  If you are simply pulled over for texting, the fines are steep.  If you hurt or kill someone, you can go to jail for up to 15 years at the court’s direction.

 And I say, it is about time.

 People don’t follow the law, in general, out of respect for the law.  It is a mixture of basic morality and fear.  Yes, fear.  Fear of getting fined.  Fear of getting arrested.  Fear of going to jail.  And finally, one state has the balls to tell its population that if you text while driving and hurt or kill someone, the punishment will not be a simple slap on the wrist.  It will be swift and severe.  Suddenly, the risk of being caught texting is not worth the punishment, and hopefully people will think twice

 And hopefully parents will now have a reason to scare their teenage children into proper driving  behavior.

 Just imagine if the punishment for first degree murder was 30 days in jail and a $1000 fine.  You’d have a lot more murder.  Imagine that there was no longer punishment for killing an abortion doctor.  There would be a lot more dead abortion doctors.  Everything in life is about cost vs benefit, risk vs reward, risk vs punishment.  Now, the punishment for texting far outweighs the reward, and will hopefully strike fear into the driving public of Utah.  If only more states, especially the more congested states, would pass the same laws, well, we’d be on a good path.

Now, what incenses me more than anything are these assholes, these arrogant, self-absorbed cock sucker, who claim they can multi-task and have no problem texting will driving.  Guess what: Most people who say they can multi-task, can’t.  Driving a car is a privilege, not a right, and when you are sharing public roads with thousands of other people, you do NOT have the right to put everyone else at risk because you think that you can text and drive at the same time.  Because all it takes is one moment of looking down, one moment of reading a snippet of text, one moment of searching for a letter, to miss the fact that the car in front of you has stopped short because of traffic.

 All it takes is one moment of distraction to kill someone.

 Now do not try to compare texting to looking for a radio station or having a cigarette or eating something, because they are a different class of actions.  They do not drag your attention away from what is going on in front of and around you.  Texting is akin to looking at the floor between your legs for something you dropped while driving.  They are different, and anyone with half a brain understands the distinction between active texting and simply glancing at the radio.  If you want to argue this point, you are simply being ignornant, trying to defend your actions anyway possible.  Because deep down, in the rational part of everyone’s mind, they know they’re different

 Studies have been done that show when you drive while on the phone, your reaction time is the same as someone who is legally drunk.  And if you text while you drive, your reaction time is twice as bad as that.  So don’t do it.

 It’s sad, really the perceptions of young people these days.  I caught a snippet of Dr. Phil (against my will, while examining a patient) where he was interviewing a teenage girl who thought that there was nothing wrong with her habit despite getting into one accident, almost getting into two others, and almost hitting a pedestrian.  Maybe it takes a harsh punishment for these kids to understand how dangerous their behavior is.  I don’t understand the mindset of these people.  Cars are for driving.  And guess what- nothing is that important that you can’t wait until you get where you’re going to write a text.  No one’s life is worth that.  And even one person killed by an inattentive texter is one too many.  Because there is no excuse for texting while you drive.  No excuse for putting everyone around you at risk simply to write your girlfriend that you’re think about her while your on your way over to her place.

 There is simply never an excuse for participating in such a dangerous activity.

 And finally, one state out of fifty, has said that they have had enough.  Its not much, buut it’s a start.  Unfortunately, you have people out there who think that going to jail for killing someone while texting is too harsh.  I say that it isn’t harsh enough.  Because negligence NEEDS to be punished.  Maybe then people will think twice about willfully engaging in behavior that is dangerous to everyone else around them.

 If you want to text while driving and wrap your own car around a telephone, killing yourself but no one else, have a ball.  I won’t stop you.  But if you kill someone else… if someone else’s mother or father, son or daughter, brother or sister die because of your disregard for everyone else right to live, well then, you can rot in jail for the rest of your life for all I care.

 Click here for oringial article from the NY Times

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