AAA Wants Ban on Texting While Driving
AAA pushed for ban in all 50 states by 2013
Put down that cell phone.
It's not illegal to text while driving in Texas, but the AAA wants to change that.
The association has started a nationwide push to pass federal and state laws banning text messaging by drivers in all 50 states by 2013.
AAA wants to make it illegal to send, write or read text messages or e-mails while driving.
Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia have laws that address text messaging by all drivers. Texas does not have a law prohibiting all drivers from text messaging while driving, but teen drivers have cell phone restrictions under the Texas Graduated Driver License laws.
Research also shows that approximately one in five U.S. drivers admit to texting while driving at least once in the last 30 days.
"The new technologies that help us multitask in our everyday lives and increasingly popular social media sites present a hard-to-resist challenge to the typically safe driver," said AAA President and CEO Robert Darbelnet.
The popularity of texting has grown quickly over the past four years. According to the wireless industry trade association, CTIA, the number of monthly texting messages reached 110 billion at the end of 2008, a more than 11-fold increase in three years.
AAA is asking motorists to drive distraction-free during the week of October 5-11 the message that week is "Try it for a week, do it for life."
AAA is asking drivers to go to its Web site to print and sign a pledge committing to distraction-free driving for Heads Up Driving Week and beyond.
Posted Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 - 9:22 AM CST
