N.Y. now ticketing for texting

By Emmalie Vance
Texting and driving have been joined at the hip since the new mode of communication was made affordable for driving teens around the turn of the millennium. Once seen as the new fad, text messaging has spread from the thumbs of teens to their parents and, in some cases, their grandparents.
A study released in 2008 by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety states, “More than four out of five drivers rate drivers using cell phones as a serious or extremely serious traffic safety problem, over half say that it is unacceptable, and one in seven even mention reducing or eliminating driver cell phone use…between 29% and 46% of these same drivers report that they themselves have used a cell phone while driving at least occasionally in the past month.”
To combat these and other statistics, Governor David Paterson signed legislation in mid-August expanding New York’s existing ban on cell phone use while driving to include text messaging. The governor’s signature added New York to the growing list of 18 other states that ban text messaging while behind the wheel, according to http://www.ghsa.org/.
“The generation of my two boys, who are SUNY students,” said Mayor Donald Kasprzak, “absolutely text every day, all day in all sorts of different places so I truly believe that this new law will have an absolute impact on them and probably one that they don’t appreciate.”
One of the more important aspects of the new law is that it is punishable only as a secondary offense meaning before a person can be ticketed for text messaging while driving, they must be breaking another law first, such as speeding or disobeying a traffic signal. It will take effect on Nov. 1 and a ticket could cost up to $150.
“I think the texting law is going to be difficult to enforce,” Kasprzak said, “because you could have your hands [in your lap] and you could be looking up and down. I don’t think local or state police are going to really make that a priority although it is a new law.”
Joseph Lynch III, a student at SUNY Plattsburgh, says, “The chances of people getting caught are very slim so why would they stop? People still talk on their cell phones and that’s been a primary offense for several years. If people aren’t stopping when it’s a primary offense, then making it a secondary offense makes it that much more improbable that they’re going to stop.”
According to Eric Stigberg, Public Relations for AAA, the national company is “absolutely very pleased that the state went ahead with this plan.” AAA has been campaigning since late September for all 50 states to pass a law against texting while driving and to improve the existing laws by 2013. Although pleased with the step that New York has recently taken, Stigberg says AAA would like to see the law made into a primary offense with more serious ramifications than a small monetary fine.
“Before you get in the vehicle, finish those conversations via text. When you get into the car and get ready to go, stow away your device and don’t touch it. If it’s absolutely necessary, pull off the side of the road to a safe location and do it while you’re parked,” Stigberg said.
Mitch Carriere, Traffic Safety Specialist for Clinton County’s Traffic Safety Program, travels to local schools to teach kids about the dangers of distracted driving. A new slideshow presentation he uses profiles a 4-year-old boy who was a victim in an accident caused by an 18-year-old girl who was texting while driving. The photographs of the boy after the accident are disturbing but unfortunately, according to Carriere, “The more disturbing they are, the more they hit home."
Carriere hopes this new law will become second-nature to future generations, as with the law requiring all drivers to wear seatbelts, which was passed in 1985. “In the fall of 1985, the seat belt usage rate in New York State was only 46 percent,” according to a 2009 press release celebrating the 25th anniversary of the seat belt law in New York State. “Last year, the rate had nearly doubled and was recorded at its highest, 89 percent.”
Frank Mercier, Traffic Safety Program coordinator, agreed with his colleague in hoping that the law will inspire future generations to concentrate more on the road than their handheld devices. “Drivers have the mindset that they’re in control and nothing’s going to happen to them,” Mercier said. He hopes that the Traffic Safety Programs and other programs and educational initiatives will soon correct this mindset when it comes to distracted driving.
“I think that most states will follow New York’s lead [of the new texting while driving law] because it is a distraction and I do believe that with the continued changes in technology that such devices will become more prevalent,” Kasprzak said. “Overall, though, I think it was the right decision to be in the forefront.”