by Kelly Thompson

Created on: April 29, 2009

I'll start by arguing that no, I do not believe that text messaging should be made illegal in Illinois.

I think it should be made illegal everywhere.

Texting while driving should be made on par with several other distracting tasks that people attempt to complete while operating a motor vehicle. I have compiled a list of some of the things I have witnessed people doing while driving. These activities include:

Texting, talking on the phone, playing a saxaphone, singing, receiving oral sex, reading a magazine/newspaper, performing manual sex on themselves (and others), having sexual intercourse and meditating.

Granted there is a difference in extremes in some of these instances. But, the point is what the law is written to say and to prevent. The law indicates that a driver should not engage in any activity that might (or does) distract them from focusing on driving and the cars/obstacles surrounding them.

It seems clear to me that texting clearly falls within the catagory of a distraction. Texting not only distracts people's line of sight, but it also distracts them mentally, because they are more worried about the conversation that they are engaged in than in paying attention to the road.

Some people would argue that they are such proficient "texters" that they do not have to worry about looking at the keys or screen in order to send their message. While that is apparently a valuable skill to possess, it doesn't hold water for a couple of reasons. The first and most glaring is that the law does not simply indicate that visual/physical distractions are to blame for accidents or are deemed illegal. The law indicates that anything that might distract a driver (including mental distractions) are against the law. This means that carrying on a conversation dramatically increases the risk of causing an accident. Second, people who do not have to look down to text still look down to send, correct mistakes, or ensure that what they meant to write is on the screen. Even these brief lapses in vision can lead to an accident...it is estimated that the approximate time to make a decision to avoid an accident or to cause an accident is less than a half of a second.

Be safe and care. Don't text and drive. Trust me, from experience, you never know who the next person you hit will be, or how their life might be altered by your inconsideration and inattentiveness. I caused an accident while texting that ended in a young person being carted off in an ambulance. It changed my life. Learn from other people's mistakes - we don't have time to make them all ourselves.

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