Texting

Texting while driving...I can barely text much less text and drive, but my children and grandchildren think they can do both. They do not understand the concept of DISTRACTED DRIVER, and are under the impression that nothing horrible will ever happen to them. Even if they never have anything happen right away I can promise them they are going to have carpal tunnel of the thumb or arthritis when they reach my age or before! Texting just kills my thumb and trying to see the letters on my phone is a real challenge! I call it cussing and texting, because for every correct letter I manage to hit there are twice as many that I get wrong.

After watching a couple of Oprah shows, that featured parents of children who had been killed due to texting while driving, I am a firm believer that NO ONE SHOULD TEXT WHILE DRIVING. I can't watch Oprah during the day, so I have to catch the 11pm rerun of that day's program, and I was just sick listening to the sad stories. You can get the stats from Oprah.com and while you are there sign the NO PHONE ZONE pledge. There is never a text as important as a life!

I decided to look up texting laws for the surrounding states and found this neat web site: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html and if you want detailed information check it out for yourself. Several states have laws against cell phone use while driving, but I want to share with you the states that have laws against texting while driving.

THE FOLLOWING STATES HAVE LAWS THAT BAN TEXT MESSAGING WHILE DRIVING:

Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Georgia, Guam, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

Oklahoma has passed a 2010 law that goes into effect November 1, 2010 that does not allow drivers with learners permit or intermediate drivers license to use a handheld cell phone or text while driving.

Texas does not allow intermediate (first 12 months) drivers to text while driving. Several of the other state have partial bans like these. Check the web site to see what the laws of your state might be concerning texting while driving. Some states have it enclosed in a distracted driver law, so you need to pay attention even when you are traveling through different states!

Drive safe and please do not text while driving.