A rash of fatal crashes involving texting drivers has led federal officials to call a national summit of transportation authorities, safety advocates and law enforcement officials to recommend ways to combat the problem.
“The public is sick and tired of people being distracted and causing accidents,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood while announcing the summit Tuesday. “We all know texting while driving is dangerous and we are going to do something about it so that responsible drivers don’t have to worry about it when they or a loved one get on the road.”
LaHood was spurred to action by cases like that in June involving a 17-year-old driver in Illinois who was killed when she drove off the road while sending text messages to friends.
That was just the latest example of road carnage linked to texting. Charles Stoecker was killed in November 2007 by a 17-year-old who was sending text messages from behind the wheel in White Hall, Md. The teen got off with a $410 fine. Since her husband’s death, Weida Stoecker has been a leading advocate in pushing Maryland lawmakers to ban text messages, which they did last spring.
Last year, a commuter train driver in Los Angeles was sending text messages just before he plowed into another train, killing 25 and injuring 135. Just last month, video surfaced of a Metro operator texting while operating his train. The incident led Metro officials to change the employee handbook: Anyone caught texting while operating a bus or train will be fired. Before they had three chances to correct the dangerous behavior.
“Will you get into a crash by sending one text message from the behind the wheel? No,” said Montgomery County police spokesman Lt. Paul Starks. “But when you get away with it, you don’t fully asses the danger of the situation.”
Washington-area law makers have already begun a crackdown of their own. Last month, Virginia became the latest state to ban texting while driving. On Oct. 1, Maryland police will start issuing tickets for up to $500 and D.C. police have penalized more than 20,000 drivers since the city began its battle in 2004.
LaHood said just banning texting while driving won’t do the trick, it will have to be coupled with enforcement and education. The summit, he said, will try to determine the best way to do that.
Critics of Virginia’s texting law have said it doesn’t go far enough to enforce the ban. Unlike D.C. and Maryland’s law, drivers in Virginia can’t be pulled over just for texting. They have to be in trouble for something else before they get the $20 fine.
Arlington County police spokeswoman Crystal Nosal said officers can pull someone over for distracted driving and then slap them with the an additional texting ticket.
Nosal added that officers are often multitasking, too.
“Officers are dealing with car radios, computers and taking calls for services,” she said. “It’s always going to be that way for police.”
