Using cell phones not most dangerous activity to engage in behind wheel
On Tuesday, Columbia City Council banned texting while driving within the limits of Columbia, hoping to curb deaths and improve road safety.
But prohibiting cell phone use behind the wheel while the car is in motion is an invasion of privacy, and the legislation should not stand.
I am not saying texting while driving is smart. Granted, 28 percent of fatal automobile accidents are caused by cell phone use, but there are far more dangerous actions. On a list of the most deadly activities to participate in a car, texting ranked lower than many other overlooked reasons. The No. 1 reason? Children in the car. In the name of safety, will the council move to ban children from cars? That's silly! Eating while driving, an action that can be seen as very dangerous, is one that out ranked texting as well. Drinking and driving was also above texting on the list of most causes of deadly accidents. Radio, reading material, talking to passengers and more squeezed into the list before texting while driving even appeared.
The council should look into the main causes of death behind the wheel. The cell phone is a petty reason to create bigger government control. They can already ticket you for not buckling your seat belt, something else that is common sense, yet this decision should be up to your own discretion. The government shouldn't have to hold its citizens' hands to cross the street or make sure they fasten their seat belts or punish them for sending a text while driving. All of this is common sense.
There is the argument that a law against texting would protect the innocent, well-behaved drivers on the road. Advocates for the anti-texting bill promote that with greater consequences for an action, the safer the roads will be. But the truth is that by prohibiting texting, people will go to greater lengths to conceal the action. This will cause more accidents because drivers will now be more distracted.
Laws about drinking and driving have yet to prohibit people from getting behind the wheel intoxicated. Those who are stupid enough to drive drunk will do it no matter what. This bill will prove to be the same. Those who want to text will text even if they have a ticket looming over their heads.
While texting and driving is not the smartest thing, there are other things to focus on. Picking on new technology is not the best answer to improving road safety. There are better ways they could spend time in council meetings.
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