Texting While Driving Can Have Deadly Consequences

  • September 16, 2008

CREDIT: Tealy Devereaux of Fox 13

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Cell phones are causing more drivers than ever to be distracted behind the wheel. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Department said text messaging in the car has become more of a problem than drunk driving.

The possibility that text messaging played a role in a train crash that killed 25 people in California is stirring up new safety concerns.

A handful of states have already banned texting while driving and similar laws are under consideration in at least 16 others.

“They say 57 percent of people, Americans, admit to texting while they drive even though most people say it’s wrong,” said driving instructor Shannon Pitner.

There’s no outright ban on texting in Tennessee, but Pitner said younger drivers are limited in what they can get away with.

“Law in Tennessee says a person with a graduated driver’s license, someone under 18, cannot talk on a cell phone or text message at all,” he said.

Tim McMackin is a traffic reconstructionist with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.

He said there have been a number of times where fellow investigators who were piecing together a crash, have found cell phones on the driver’s side floor board.   

“(They’re) just about as bad a drunk drivers,” he said. “They’re all over the roadway, look up for second, correct the vehicle and right back into the phone.”

While McMackin said talking and texting on cell phones may not always be the cause of an accident, he said the two distractions are extremely dangerous, if not deadly, contributors.

“Compounded with speed or swerving from lane to lane because they’re not focusing on the road,” he said. “It’s really prevalent in Shelby County.”

For Pitner, driving and texting or talking on the cell phone are no’s - no’s. To keep his students from being tempted, he gives them one piece of advice right away.

“Any distraction is not smart,” he said. “So pull off the road, find a safe place and do that.”

Last session, state Senator Jim Tracy, of Shelbyville, proposed legislation that would have banned all Tennessee drivers from sending or receiving text messages while driving.

The measure, which would have made it a misdemeanor with a $50 fine, failed. It’s unknown if Tracy plans to try again this session.