Safety Group to Call for Ban on Texting While Driving

By MATT RICHTEL
Published: August 30, 2009

An organization of state highway safety officials on Monday plans to call for a ban on
texting while driving, joining a growing chorus of legislators and safety
advocates endorsing such a policy.

Rob Bennett for The New York Times

Studies show that drivers who send text messages can travel more than 100 yards without looking at the road.

Related
Driven to Distraction: Utah Gets Tough With Texting Drivers (August 29, 2009)
Series: Driven to Distraction »

The group, the Governors Highway Safety Association, whose members are appointed
by state governors to lead highway safety agencies, said it adopted the policy in light of a
growing body of research showing the increased crash risk posed by texting motorists.

The policy is a change for the association, which previously questioned the value of such
a ban, saying it would be difficult to enforce.

Now, Vernon F. Betkey Jr., chairman of the association, says that a ban “will send a
message to the public that this dangerous practice is unacceptable. We can begin to
change the culture that has permitted distracted driving.”
The announcement comes as the association convenes its annual meeting this week in
Savannah, Ga.

The transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, who has organized a distracted driving

summit meeting to take place in late September, opposes texting while driving.
Recently, several senators introduced legislation to force states to ban texting while
driving or lose federal highway money.

Studies show that motorists who send or receive a text message have a tendency to take
their eyes off the road for five seconds to do so. That is enough time for their car to
travel more than the length of a football field at highway speeds.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found in a study that truckers sending text

messages while driving are 23 times likelier to cause a crash or near crash than a trucker
not texting. Studies using a driving simulator at the University of Utah found that car
drivers who text face an eight times greater crash risk.

Some safety advocates worry that the emphasis on the dangers of texting while driving
will cause state and federal governments to focus on texting but ignore the dangers of
motorists who talk on cellphones while driving. Studies show that drivers who talk on
the phone are four times likelier to crash than those who are not on the phone.

But regulating or legislating against talking on cellphones while driving is likely to be

less popular with the public than bans on texting, according to legislators around the
country and some polls on the issue.

A version of this article appeared in print on August 31, 2009, on page B4 of the New
York edition.

Work cited

Richtel, Matt. “Safety Group to Call for Ban on Texting While Driving.” The New York Times,
The New York Times, 31 Aug. 2009,
archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/technology/31texting.html.