New Yorkers now have to live with the threat of a $150 fine for texting and driving. (Incidentally, I know a fool-proof way to avoid paying the fine: put your stupid phone away while behind the wheel.) But in the UK? They don’t mess around with their punishments. The New York Times has a story today about a young woman who’s now serving 21 months in prison for her role in car accident that left someone dead. What was her role? That’s right, texting while driving.
You might as well read the full story to understand the nuances of what happened, but the long and short of it is is that a 22-year-old woman, Phillipa Curtis, had been writing text messages to her friends while driving on the A40. Meanwhile, 24-year-old Victoria McBryde was on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.
And then Curtis slammed into McBryde’s car, killing her instantly.
Twenty-one months. That’s how long Curtis has to spend in prison, with the authorities there taking into account that texting had been largely responsible for the accident. Is that too harsh a sentence? I’d say no, because 21 months in prison doesn’t even compare to the hardship that McBryde’s family now has to endure. But that’s an emotional reaction. What we should be looking at is, what type of punishment is appropriate for situations like this? No one tolerates drinking and driving, and yet somehow texting and driving doesn’t have that same stigma attached to it.
What should probably happen is that once kids hit middle school (sixth grade or so), they should be taught in health class, or wherever, the dangers of texting and driving. I mean, what are the odds that the average kid is gonna stumble upon dust or rush or crank in his everyday life versus one day stepping behind the wheel and texting his friends? What’s more likely to make an impact on his health?
I’m interested in what y’all think: should we introduce harsh prison sentences—remember, New Yorkers only face a $150 fine for texting and driving, and it’s only a secondary law to enforce—, focus on education, or continue on with our heads in the sand as we pretend texting and driving isn’t an issue?
You should never use a mobile phone in any circumstances, unless it’s hands free, whilst driving. You can not be fully concentrating on the road if you are doing this so I fully support prison sentences if you cause an accident whilst doing this.
21 month sentence over here is not for texting while driving, it’s for killing a person because of driving while distracted, irrespective of what distracted the driver. Had she been putting make-up on, she’d probably deserve the same sentence, because she killed a person because of carelessness behind the wheel.
Either way, I think it’s common sense that texting takes too much attention off of the road and should never be done while driving, esp. on highways where the danger increases significantly.
Calls for a ban on texting while driving, using the phone while driving, putting on make-up while driving, etc. all miss the real issue.
We don’t need to have a million laws tailor-made to address each possible action we might engage in while driving (which of course necessitate new laws being passed for every other thing you can do while driving that gets invented).
Likewise, we (for good reason) don’t want a single law that broadly bans every possible activity that could distract while driving as it would be incredibly underenforced and/or grossly abused by cops with end-of-the-month quotas.
There’s an altogether better solution. We already have laws against driving in a fashion that puts other people in danger. If an individual is texting and that leads them to drive dangerously than a police officer can and should take action. Same for anything else impairing driving ability. On the other hand, if an individual is texting while driving but putting no one else at risk, there is no need to take any action.
Well if you leave texting and driving legal then you perpetuate the idea that it’s a harmless activity, which it clearly isn’t.
It’s sort of why I suggested the idea of teaching kids in school to knock it off. The generation currently on the roads already thinks it’s OK to text and drive, so let’s focus on making sure the next generation of drivers don’t.
But yes, there are no easy solutions.
“Well if you leave texting and driving legal then you perpetuate the idea that it’s a harmless activity, which it clearly isn’t. ”
…and neither is putting on makeup while driving. And neither is checking yourself out in the mirror while driving. And neither is looking for the cd/map/other random thing you lost under the seat while driving. And neither is…
The point is that being in control of a large heavy object at high speeds is something that requires one’s utmost concentration. Whatever you are doing that distracts you from giving it that concentration is not a good idea. And if someone dies as a result, then you should certainly be held liable.
But the notion that one particular distraction should be singled out as worse than others is sensationalist at best. I’m not suggesting that texting while driving is ok, but can you imagine the kinds of laws necessary to penealize every possible distraction? Can you imagine the pointlessness of trying to determine which specific statute applies when some kind of tragdey happens?
The shocking part of the story you quote here is that a young woman killed someone and got less than 2 years in prison as a result. Would this be more or less ok if she was engaged in some other activity when it happened?
I think the underlying issue here is not ‘driving while texting’, but rather ‘driving while distracted.’ I don’t think the woman got 21 months in prison for texting, but for the more significant crime of manslaughter (or whatever the charge was.) I would hope the penalty is the same if she had been reading, putting on makeup, digging through her purse, or changing the radio station. Although texting or phoning via the use of a hands-free device is safer to use, it is still hard to concentrate on driving, particularly in heavy traffic.
It would be easy for cellular network providers to disable text function while moving. The provider could monitor the “pass off” rate from one receiver to the next to determine how fast a person is changing location and disable text functions accordingly. Sure, it would also disable text function for car passengers as well as public transportation users, but this is a small price to pay to reign in this wanton abuse of technology. Don’t expect providers to do this, however, since it will result in a decrease in their revenue.
I feel that a fine for $150.00 is not enough! People should go to jail just like the woman in the UK. Why do you have a phone in the first place? I thought a phone was for talking! And you need to use a headset for that! We talked about this topic on our talk show!
I don’t think requiring schools to teach kids about the dangers of phone use while driving is the answer. They do a bad enough job of teaching children history, English, math, science, and health for that matter without having another subject added to the curriculum.
I think people only respond to consequences applied swiftly and consistently.
As a native New Yorker now living in Marlyand, I’ve been used to not using my phone at all while driving. Since MD has not passed this legislation yet, I discipline myself by downloading a software called “ZoomSafer” at http://www.zoomsafer.com. It locks your phone when you start driving and I have a message sent back to people trying to reach me that tells them I’ll call them when I reach wherever it is that I’m going. Its a great application!