Texting While Driving Ban Could Become Universal in Missouri
Currently the law is only for those 21 and younger. A St. Louis senator has sponsored a bill to include everyone.
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A Missouri law prohibits anyone 21 and younger from texting while driving. A St. Louis-area senator, Sen. Robin Wright-Jones (D-St. Louis) has sponsored a bill (SB 567) to expand that to drivers of any age. The bill also states that drivers can’t be stopped “solely to determine compliance with the state text messaging ban.”
Wright-Jones’ intention is to help keep Missouri roads safe and to keep insurance rates from rising. She said Missouri is one of the few states without an insurance cap, so crashes can affect rates more than in other states.
The Maneater, the Missouri University student newspaper, reported that a hearing was held on the bill last Wednesday in Jefferson City. Representatives from the Missouri Trucking Association, Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri State Medical Association, as well as a Missouri University freshman testified in favor of the bill. No one testified against it.
“The benefit is that it is not safe to be texting, no matter how old you are,” Traffic Sgt. Curtis Perkins was quoted in the Maneater article. “It’s still not safe, no matter who you are, to text and drive.”
The next step is for the bill to be voted on at an executive session. If passed, the bill would go into effect Aug. 28.
In Illinois, it’s been illegal to text, email or surf the web while a car is moving, since Jan. 1, 2010. It’s all right, if at a standstill, such as waiting for a train to pass, or if pulled over to the side.
How do you feel about it? Answer our poll, below.
Erik Wood
3:19 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
I read that 94% of drivers think Text and Drive is lethal but over one third still do it. What to do? I think legislation has value in raising public awareness in forums like this one but it will be difficult to solely legislate our way out of this issue. I just read that over 3/4 of teens text daily - many text more than 4000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook - even with their professors. Tweens (ages 9 -12) send texts to each other from their bikes. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.
I decided to do something about distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool called OTTER that is a simple GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. It also silences call ringtones while driving unless you have a bluetooth enabled. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app