Would a nationwide ban stop teenagers from texting in their cars?

Doubtful because they’d just go through more measures to hide texting while driving and that would probably cause more accidents. I used to change my pants on my way to work while I drove (in traffic)—now that’s not a good idea. I read somewhere (a long time ago) that the #1 reason for accidents is food, and in particular chocolate… not sure if that’s true anymore or not.

Well, a “nationwide ban” doesn’t stop people from driving drunk, so I’d bet on no. It’d probably slow it down some, though.

Maybe it would stop a whole load of them, if not everyone: for example -

Those who want to be law-abiding may conform.
Those who don’t want penalties, fines, or their license revoked may conform.
It may help spread the message about how dangerous it is, and encourage people to think twice.

In the UK it is illegal to use your phone whilst driving. Although there are still people caught doing it, since it was made illegal the numbers have gone right down. Maybe if this was done in the US, it may have the desired effect and many teenagers would stop this activity.

Do teens drink even though it’s illegal? So I’m not sure how this would be different.

My state just passed the law banning texting while driving for everybody not just teens. I think it is approximately $200—$250 fee and I’m not sure what happens when you get multiple tickets for texting.

Dracool,

Thank you for your question.

Probably not but it would discourage them. Same as with drink driving.

Regards

My sisters kid is turning 16 in about 45 days. He has a major problem with texting. I will be talking to him and he just turns off his brain if he gets a text. The world vanishes.

My sister told him that if he got a license he could only get the keys if she got his phone. He gets the phone back when he gives her the keys. He couldn’t have both at the same time.

He isn’t going to bother to get his license.

@johnpowell that’s smart (I mean of his mother), she’s saving her son, and probably herself from super high insurance bills if he does get into an accident

The only possible way for people to stop texting while driving is to have carriers install a device that shutsdown texting, if the automobile is in motion. this can easily be detected as the vehicle roams from tower to tower. it may cost you and i and the carriers money, but look at the lives it will save.

…Touching your phone in the UK is against the law, will get you pulled over and an on the spot £80 fine…

Just teenagers…...... Last i saw it was anyone who had a phone / a car and fingers were texting , its not something age restricted to just teenagers .

Let me put it this way; WA has a law that makes hands-free (Bluetooth and speakerphones) mandatory yet I see a lot of people with their phone in one hand up against their ear.

I would guess that such a law would fail.

@johnpowell And what is to stop him from buying another phone and hiding it? Tracfones and the like are pretty cheap and addicts can be sneaky.

I think something has to be done. Not sure what will be effective, but the issue needs adressing.

Stop making mobiles , or make it so when in a moving / engine running car they dont work . A signal blocker or something .

Make it illegal just like it is now in New Zealand. No texting or phone calls while driving otherwise…. a BIG FAT TICKET comes your way.

@sandystrachan – Not entirely practical, especially for those of us that do not have a landline. Hell, there are some places where there isn’t even the infrastructure for landline phones! As for the signal blocker, that would require a total (and costly) redesign and possibly replacing most/all of the phones currently in use to enable such a feature. And if you base it on motion, what is to keep the phone from being disabled by walking and talking at the same time, or calling on a bus/train?

@tooty_fruity88 – That only matters if you get caught. And considering how tiny a Bluetooth headset is, it’d be hard to know that I am talking on the phone as I go speeding by a cop even in the unlikely event that there is one there and they are paying close attention to me. Not to mention speakerphones…

I like the idea of teens driving only manual transmissions instead, no choice but to not text.

@hungryhungryhortence Too bad many new cars don’t even offer that as an option any more except for “sports” models.

@jerv: I know! It’s too bad because once you drive a manual then you can jump into any vehicle and make it go and then some of us fall in love with the shifting/control experience. Paddle shifts and Tiptronic shifts don’t compare.

No. Teens are invincible. They are impervious to the negative effects of drug use, texting while driving, sex outside wedlock resulting in pregnancy, smoking, drinking… all of it.

Yes, but ONLY if it’s seriously enforced and severely punished. That way word will get around via the kids, “Don’t do THAT!”

@jerv although it’s illigal here in nz to talk or text while driving – you are still allowed to use authorised hands free kits. They are more aiming at when someone drops their phone during a phone call or is busy texting while driving. I don’t see how couriers and other occupations would work without their phones but they can use car kits.

It’s not only teens who text whilst driving. I catch a bus every day, so I spend a lot of time looking down into people’s cars. From my observations, I must conclude that the average culprits of texting whilst driving are business people between the ages of 25–40.

In answer to your question, no, I don’t believe a nationwide ban would stop this. There’s a nationwide ban where I live, and it certainly hasn’t stopped it. I’m thinking that the answer is jail time. If you text while driving, you spend 6 months in prison. That would certainly deter people, and I doubt that many people would re-offend.

@tooty_fruity88 – Ah, pretty much the same oft-broken law we have here in WA. I misunderstood you before.

@randomness – I’ve noticed the same thing too. As for jail time, there is a problem with prison overcrowding already. Unfortunately the Eighth Amendment prohibits public flogging. I’ll wager that Singapore (home of caning) has fewer problems.

Definitely not. Drinking and driving is banned and that still happens way to often. Texting takes such a short time to respond more teens would try to because it would make them “rebels”

Nope. Look at drinking and driving, there are harsh laws against that and look how many teenagers still do this. Texting is something that some teens can’t manage to live without and I doubt a law will stop them from doing it when they’re driving.

@NaturalMineralWater—not all of them, but a very valid point

For those of you who want to take the impractical step of shutting off phones while a vehicle is in motion, have you ever thought about passengers in cars who should have every right to talk and text since they are not driving?

And what about those who make phone calls while driving reporting drunk and/or dangerous drivers? Those that report other dangerous situations to the authorities? Would you have them unable to make phone calls and maybe have people killed because they couldn’t make a call?

Well, I see you’re back! That isn’t the crux of the situation or question, and you know it!

@Val123 But it is an important point that those advocating a “solution” don’t bother to think about.

There’s nothing that will stop people from doing things they’re not supposed to be doing in their cars.

@avvooooooo If they place that call using Bluetooth or speakerphone with voice-command dialing (which I’ve seen on many phones, even some cheap ones) then I agree.
However, if you have to dig your phone out, you’re more dangerous than most drunks, at least for a few seconds. Then if you have to dial your phone, you are also dangerous, and the same if you actually have to hold your phone to your ear. I use my phone in the car all the time, but never touch it; I don’t need to.

However, you are correct that people will always be stupid.

@jerv Like many people, I don’t have to look at my phone to dial. If I have a passenger who can call, I really don’t have to look at any phone for any reason. But if phones don’t function when a vehicle is in motion, half of the reason that mobile phones exist in the first place is negated. The act of holding a phone up to one’s ear is not all that dangerous and the advocation for the use of headsets is somewhat ridiculious. Its the conversation and distraction that endangers people, not people who are holding a phone. Most people don’t drive with two hands all the time, the argument that they don’t have their hand on the wheel because its holding a phone is stupid because if they weren’t on the phone, it probably wouldn’t be on the wheel anyway. Its not people using phones that are a problem, its people who are incapable of multitasking and who can’t use them properly.

@avvooooooo But you still have to take your hands off the wheel for more than a couple of seconds and divide your attention. You may think you’re good but trust me, you’re not as good as you think.

I agree that having them shut off in motion is stupid since many people use them on the move without driving (walking, as a passenger, mass transit….)

I beg to differ about the danger of holding a phone up to the ear. Maybe it’s because every car I’ve driven is easier to control with two hands on the wheel, especially if you have to perform evasive manuevers (a sadly common occurence in Seattle, often due to somebody who is on their cell-phone) beyond what you can do with just one hand unless you have a 360-degree swivel in your wrist.
It might be different if drive only on smooth, open roads, but most places I’ve been have potholes that will cause a lane-change, people who can’t stay in their lane, crosswinds, and other factors that make one-handed driving a bitch at best and often outright dangerous.

Or maybe it’s because holding a phone such that it can even pick up voices cuts off peripheral vision to one side. Again, not an issue on the open road, but not good in traffic. Of course, it’s possible that I am just weird because unlike many other drivers, I actually acknowledge the presence of other vehicles on the road instead of blazing through like I own the place.

As for your claims about multi-tasking, not all people can do that, even many that think they can. After all, how many drunks think that they are okay to drive? And of all of the near-misses I’ve had, most of them had a phone in their hand. Therefore your theory is disproven by direct observation.

There is truth to being distracted by the conversation, but that can happen even without phones if you have chatty passengers… like most teens I’ve known. (I’m not much of a conversationalist behind the wheel since I’d rather make the listener wait for my next sentence than get creamed by an inattentive driver or ticketed for speeding or missing a light. Driving takes priority for me!)

It’s not the holding of the phone up to your ear that’s dangerous. It’s the distraction of trying to have a disembodied conversation with another person.

@Val123 True, but by holding it up there and not moving that one hand you are automatically paying a little more attention to the phone and a bit less to the road. Maybe the truly graceful/dextrous can do it with ease, but that doesn’t mean that everybody can whether they think they can or not.
And what of embodied conversations (passengers)?
Of course, it may be moot since many drivers aren’t paying attention even if they are in the car alone with no phone :P

@jerv I, personally, don’t talk much while I’m driving, and I’ve been known to say, “Everyone be quiet for a moment until I pass this car.” I mean, I’ll listen in, and laugh or whatever, but I don’t actively participate much.

I have a theory, though, about talking on cell phones v talking to a person IRL. When we talk to people IRL we always look at them. We get, probably, 50%, or more of what people are really saying via subtle facial expressions and gestures (I posted a question on this, can’t find it.) On a cell phone you have to concentrate much harder than normal on inflections, and you have to imagine facial expressions and gestures…you simply have to concentrate harder on a cell phone conversation than you do in a face to face conversation.

That being said, that is another reason I don’t talk much. The temptation to glance at the other person, thereby taking your eyes off the road, is hard to resist.

ALSO, when a person is physically with you they temper their conversation to match the conditions you find yourself in while driving. Coming up to a stop light…if they think you haven’t seen it, they’ll pause in their conversation. People on cell phones, of course, just keep talking even if you’re headed straight for a semi.

@Val123 As I said, I personally am not much of a conversationalist when driving. Like I said, the conversation can wait but the jack-off who decides to change lanes when they are beside me is a bit more time-sensitive and thus takes precedence. Unfortunately, some people can’t keep their priorities straight, and it seems that more often than not it is the aforementioned jack-off, whether they have a phone glued to their ear or a teen driver with a back seat full of buddies (more often the former).

Also, I personally don’t pick up well on non-verbal communication in the first place (normally a drawback, but it comes in handy when I have to use my Bluetooth) so voice-only or text-only conversations aren’t really much different for me than when I am looking right at them.