After several fatal car accidents in recent years, NY has been trying to crack down on texting-while-driving. And now, the State Senate has passed a bill which will make it infinitely easier for police to pull over people for the offense. Which means no more romancing while driving, as well.
Up until now, texting while driving was a secondary offense, which meant that a person couldn't be charged with a violation unless they were pulled over for another reason, like speeding. But the new bill will make it a primary offense; it goes to the Assembly now for approval. Last year, only 3,200 motorists were ticketed statewide for the offense, half of which was in the city; comparatively, 332,000 tickets were written to drivers talking on their cell phones without hands-free devices. (The NYPD has periodic crackdowns.)
According to a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, a driver is 23 percent more likely to be involved in an accident while text messaging. However, a different study by the Highway Loss Data Institute found that texting bans may be making texting-related accidents increase. So while those two studies kind of cancel each other out, it seems safe to say that texting and driving is just a bad combination, maybe even more distracting than having pets in the car. Although, it's probably not as bad as having Charles Manson in the drivers seat.
