The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (1) Comments
R U texting while driving?
Published 10/30/2009 in Local News : Police
Survey: Police look for input on troubling trend.
By RACHAEL GRAY
Click to Purchase Photo Reprints!
Laurie Sisk/Telegram This photo illustration show a driver texting on a cell phone while driving a car. The Garden City Police Department is conducting a survey to gauge pulic opinion on the dangers and prevalence of texting while driving.
Garden City police say they're seeing it more on the roads.
Drivers are looking down, darting their eyes back to the road for an instant, then looking down again. Many times, what they're looking at is their cell phone. Reading, sending and composing text messages and e-mails may be leading to more vehicle accidents, according to police.
The trend isn't just local.
According to the Associated Press, Congress is considering requiring states to pass texting while driving laws, and if the states refuse, they could lose 25 percent of their annual federal highway funding. Eighteen states have laws that make texting while driving illegal, and seven others ban driving while talking on a cell phone.
The action from Congress comes after President Obama issued an Executive Order banning federal workers from texting while driving on official business.
Officials plan to propose permanent restrictions on the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in rail operations; ban text messaging altogether, and restrict the use of cell phones by truck and interstate bus operators; and disqualify school bus drivers convicted of texting while driving from maintaining their commercial driver's licenses, said Secretary Ray Lahood of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
To feel out public opinion on the issue, police conducted surveys at Garden City High School and have a survey online at their Web site, www.gcpolice.org.
The public survey, available online, is six questions, and asks whether cell phone usage while driving is a danger, and if the person taking the survey texts while driving.
Garden City police Sgt. Michael Reagle said the department created the survey to see what community opinion is on the matter.
Reagle said officers are responding to crashes where texting while driving is a factor.
"We don't know if we'll make any kind of recommendations about enacting an ordinance. We just know there's an issue," Reagle said. He said so far the survey response has been "moderate" and he encourages the public to participate.
Reagle said texting while driving may present more of a danger than talking on a cell phone, which he says, also is advised against.
"It's dangerous because when you're texting, you're looking down. You need to be able to pay attention to the road and to your surroundings while driving," Reagle said.
Reagle said from the results at the high school, many students think texting while driving is a safety issue and many admitted texting while driving.
Reagle said some of the students had mentioned they had been involved or almost involved in vehicle accidents where texting while driving was a factor.
The public survey, available at www.gcpolice.org, will be available at the police department's Web site until Nov. 12.
Found 1 comment(s)!
Texting
Texting is just as dangerous as driving drunk. If caught you shoud spend time in jail.
Posted by: Wade on 10/30/2009
Twitter Updates
