Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 3, 2010
Texting and driving connected to driving while intoxicated
Erica Tuggle
Ashley Griffith demonstrates the all too familiar scene of a distracted driver using their cell phone to message, check emails, or participate in a host of options for entertainment that cellular phones now provide. Sgt. Sullivan of the Chattanooga Police Department says the clues to catch a texting driver are the same as those for an intoxicated driver.
- Erica Tuggle
Most people wouldn’t start their morning commute to work with a few alcoholic drinks before they get behind the wheel, but many across the country are exhibiting signs related to driving under the influence when they decide to text and drive.
Sergeant Chad Sullivan of the special operations division for the Chattanooga Police Department says the clues that officers use to spot a drunk driver, such as weaving in a lane or remaining stopped once a red light has changed, are the same clues they notice in someone who is texting and driving.
“When we see those signs, we are going to stop that person and investigate to see why their driving is like that. If they were in fact texting, then they will be written a citation for it,” he says.
The misdemeanor offense for texting and driving was implemented in Tennessee in July of 2009 and carries a maximum fine of $50 for drivers caught with their fingers on the dial. In Tennessee, texting while driving is a primary offense. This means an officer can stop a driver when he or she sees the act and does not have to have another reason to pull them over. Sgt. Sullivan says he can look over at a car next to him at a stop light and see a driver texting or sometimes drivers come up behind a police vehicle and pass by, still texting, unaware they have passed a patrol car.
“I have written several citations and see wrecks that are contributed to texting and driving,” he says. “It is a serious problem. I believe the studies indicate that in texting and driving, a person is less aware than someone who is driving impaired on alcohol or drugs.”
John Ulczycki, the group vice president for research, communication and advocacy for the National Safety Council, says the AT&T wireless company has started an initiative comprised of several Web, in store and radio elements to send out the message that texting can wait while driving.
Videos AT&T are using show the effects of this behavior as their primary message, he says. One such video shows a teen with brain damage speaking about the text he sent (“Where you at?”) while driving that caused his wreck. These videos show that simple texts can be very dangerous, Ulczycki says.
“Texting is high risk behavior,” he says. “It makes a person 8 to 23 times more likely to be in a crash, and is comparable to drunk driving.”
Ulczycki says texting brings together three highly dangerous behaviors while driving: taking the hands off the wheel, eyes off the road and the brain away from driving because it is distracted.
“It is the perfect storm for a crash scenario. Most distractions engage one or two of these elements, but all three are there with texting.”
Sullivan has been with the Chattanooga Police Department since 1990, on the traffic division since 1996 and now supervises all three shifts of the traffic division. He says that texting while driving is all across Chattanooga.
“Everyone has phones now and, with technology like it is today, phones do everything. People are using them more and more, and that convenience to someone driving down the road, getting their message, is going to [have to] be the individual that is going to have to be disciplined enough to think ‘I need to pull over to check this or I need to wait,’” he says. “Minus that discipline, you are going to have accidents and situations that are problematic to others.”
Although, teens are the popular trend in texting and driving, he says, more and more adults are educating themselves on how to message people with their phones. While wrecks due to cell phone usage are not an everyday occurrence for Sullivan, he says there have been instances of two or three wrecks a month where the driver admits the inattention was due to a cell phone.
He says, “I think we have been fortunate that we haven’t had any wrecks with serious injuries related to texting and driving, but we have seen an increase in wrecks because of it.”
Sullivan says he considers cell phones a bigger distraction than changing the radio station or eating while driving, because through these activities there is a good chance the driver’s eyes are still on the road.
“[In texting,] there is not only a distraction on your visual mechanics of driving, but also with your motor skills with directing muscle groups into texting and fiddling with the phone rather than concentrating on keeping your hands on the steering wheel and looking ahead to where you are going,” he says.
The main point he makes is to pull over off the roadway when using a cellular device.
“Don’t put yourself in harm’s way and don’t make it a dangerous situation for the general public. Not only are you creating a bad situation for yourself, but you are putting those lives around you in jeopardy too,” he says. “If the message you are sending or receiving is that important, pull over off the roadway, into a parking lot where you are safe and everyone around you can be safe, while you deal with your messaging on your phone.”
According to CTIA-The Wireless Association, there has been a tenfold increase in text messaging over the last three years. With all the other risk factors for new teen drivers combined, this equates to a classroom worth of teens dying each day in motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. The recent graphic nature of some ads such as the video “PSA Texting while Driving U.K. Ad” on Youtube has shocked several teens into taking the pledge on AT&T’s Facebook site to not text and drive.
AT&T honored the over 28,000 pledges with a $250,000 contribution to safety organizations committed to distracted driving prevention. Since the campaign launched in March 2010, more than 13,000 visitors to the AT&T page on Facebook and more than 15,000 AT&T employees have taken the pledge to not text and drive.
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