Despite multiple failed attempts in past legislative sessions, Texas is one of four states with no law against texting and driving.
This time around, lawmakers are optimistic about passing a bill that would make it a criminal offense to use a wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle in Texas.
Roughly three dozen Texas cities already have similar bans in place. San Antonio adopted a Hands Free Ordinance in 2010, which prohibits calling, texting and any other use of a hand-held mobile communication device.
Still, data shows more than 100,000 traffic crashes every year in Texas can be attributed to distracted driving, which is "any activity that could divert a person's attention away from the primary task of driving." There were 24,686 distracted driving-related crashes in Bexar County in 2015 – more than any other Texas county that year, by far.
A study of 19 U.S. states found that on average, there was a seven percent reduction in crash-related hospitalizations in states which enacted texting-while-driving bans.
Less than two weeks ago, 13 people died in a crash about 75 miles west of San Antonio when a truck crossed the center line on a curved road and hit their church bus head on. The truck's driver admitted afterward that he had been texting.
Will Texas become the 47th state to enact a law that bans texting while driving? Will drivers really put their phones away? How can we further curb distracted driving and make Texas roads safer for everyone?
Guests:
- Rep. Tom Craddick - District 82, lead author of House Bill 62
- Laura Lopez, public information officer for the San Antonio branch of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
- Joel Feldman, speaker and advocate for EndDD.org (End Distracted Driving)
- Dr. Ioannis Pavlidis, director of the University of Houston’s Computational Physiology Lab and the lead author of the study "Dissecting Driver Behaviors Under Cognitive, Emotional, Sensorimotor, and Mixed Stressors"
