State Rep. Rick G. Nelson, D-Middlesboro, has filed a bill that would outlaw what any reasonable person should know is one of the most dangerous things an individual can do while operating a motor vehicle: Use a “personal communication device” — a.k.a. cell phone — to send text messages.
But Nelson’s common-sense measure does not go far enough. House Bill 27 would only ban drivers under the age of 18 from texting while driving.
That’s absurd. There is nothing magical about reaching one’s 18th birthday that suddenly makes texting while driving safe. Texting while steering a vehicle is dangerous whether one is 17, 25 or 60.
In fact, Gov. Steve Beshear deemed texting while driving so dangerous — and apparently so common place — among state employees that he recently issued an executive order banning texting while driving a state vehicle. Two recent studies have found that drivers who are texting are several times more likely to have an accident than even drivers who are legally intoxicated.
The 2010 General Assembly should follow the lead of more than a dozen others states and ban texting while driving — but legislators should ban texting for all drivers, not just teenagers.
