Texting behind the wheel drives us all up the wall

By ERNIE ZIMMERMAN
Palms West Monthly
Posted Feb. 4, 2012

It happened again last month in Rivera Beach. Another serious car accident due to someone texting and driving.

As incredible as it seems, Florida is one of the few remaining states that doesn’t have a law on the books about cell phone use and texting while driving.

What are our lawmakers waiting for? Common sense dictates we need such a law for our state now.

The state of Florida makes us wear seat belts to help save lives, so what is keeping state lawmakers from getting together to pass a cell and texting law?

To prove how important this issue really is, drunk drivers are no longer the number one cause of traffic deaths in our country. It’s been replaced by folks who talk on cell phones and text while driving.

Even hands-free cell phones have been proven to be the cause of accidents.

Just a couple of weeks ago my baby brother Steve was stopped at a red light. He never did get a chance to see the light turn green. A car going at least 45 mph – according to the police report – rear-ended him while the light was still red.

You guessed it, the driver was talking on a hands-free cell phone and never saw the red light or my brother’s car stopped for the light.

Lucky for Steve, he was not seriously hurt. But his car, well, that’s another story. It was totaled. Now he has to look for a new car. (He says he doesn’t read my columns, but if he did he’d know where to buy his next car.)

I walk at least three miles every day, and if I was a betting man, which I’m certainly not, I would bet that at least 80 percent of the drivers that speed past me are speaking on their cell phones.

I know my next comment may get me in trouble, but the majority of drivers I see speaking on their cell phones are female. (Please go EZ on me with the letters.)

For the life of me, I don’t understand why so many folks have to be on their cell phones at seven in the morning.

If people must talk or text why can’t they just pull over to the side of the road? It will make all of our lives a lot safer.

Yes, this includes the big rig truck drivers who appear to enjoy talking on the phone while driving as much as anyone.

No one likes to see one of those big 18-wheelers passing you by on I-95 while the driver is busy chatting on the phone.

To combat this, the federal government passed a law that went into effect in January that forbids truck drivers from talking on cell phones or texting while driving. Way to go Feds!

The other day I saw an 18-wheeler making a right turn on a very busy and narrow street. Cars going in the other direction waiting for the light had to back up to allow the truck enough room so he could make his turn. During this entire process the truck driver was very busy chatting on his cell phone.

Here’s a great idea: Let’s get rid of the red light camera laws (another cause of accidents) and replace them with new no-talking-or-texting-while-driving laws.

The red light cameras most likely cause more harm than good, anyway. A lot of rear-end crashes occur at intersections with cameras. Car No. 1 stops short when he sees the light starting to change and car No. 2 crashes into the rear of car No. 1.

It would be interesting to see if they keep stats on whether the driver of car No. 2 was busy chatting away on his or her cell phone.

My opinion? Red light cameras are nothing more than money makers for towns. Do they really prevent accidents?

Please contact our lawmakers and get them to join the rest of the country in passing laws banning cell phones and texting while driving.

What’s your opinion? I’d love to hear from you.

Just click HERE to send me an e-mail and please include your name and city.