Governing Laws That Apply To Texting And Driving Cases
It seems that all the teens these days are doing a dangerous act- and for some states, it isn’t illegal! Texting and driving is a new act to address as mobile phones become more popular. Studies show that with proper legislation, driver safety will surge.
Since there is no federal law that says texting while driving is a punishable crime, each state has to individually create and pass legislation to regulate it. Some states such as Washington have banned the act of texting completely. Other states have made it a rule that you have to be a certain age, often 21, before you can legally text and drive.
Some states have shown sympathy for those who text while driving. Missouri is an example of a state that has done so, as it only bans those under the age of 21 from texting and driving. Those over this age can do as they wish at their own discretion. This hasn’t gone over well with some that have been directly affected by texting and driving, but it is a step in the right direction to keep the Missouri roads safe.
The vehicle is a very complex piece of machinery weighing in at over a ton. It’s no surprise, then, that studies show that texting and driving has resulted in many fatalities. Support groups point out that the fatalities are close to numbers of driving under the influence, as studies have been known to show. As legislation lags behind studies, it’s important that parents teach good driving practices to their children to prevent unsafe driving.
Mobile phone companies are starting to make advances in newer technologies that make the act of texting a thing of the past. Voice recognition software is one of the solutions that isn’t quite perfected. While voice recognition can get a high accuracy rate, it is never perfect. Different dialects can also be hard to track. In addition, background noise could interfere with how the software picks up different words of speech.
If you text and drive, it would be smart to find smarter solutions. Sometimes just having a conversation with the individual you need to contact via phone is better. In that case, you save time and also don’t endanger yourself by having to constantly look at your mobile phone. Sometimes even this isn’t a solution, as some states frown upon even talking on the phone while driving. Unless its an emergency, you are better off just not using the phone.
Closing Comments
In the end, United States citizens should just practice common sense when talking and texting. Driving while doing anything other than paying attention to the road is going to be dangerous. Limit dangerous acts so that you won’t have a wrecked car and a disaster to deal with.
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