Collegiate Times

Police may soon be able to pull drivers over for texting behind the wheel. 

The Virginia Senate advanced a bill that will make texting and driving a primary offense — for the past three years, it has been a secondary offense. 

Currently, police can only give drivers tickets for texting behind the wheel if they are already pulled over for another violation. 

Nine states, including California, Connecticut and Delaware, have banned all types of cell phone use while driving.

Study results reinforce the reason behind the legislation. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute conducted a study in 2009 that demonstrated the riskiness of drivers taking their eyes off the road.

“Our research finds that anything more than two seconds of looking away from a roadway can significantly increase your risk of getting into an accident,” said Richard Hanowski, a VTTI research scientist. “With texting, you are (looking away for) four or five seconds, and that’s really when the risk is astronomical because it is such an engaging activity.”

When a driver takes their eyes off the road for about four-and-a-half seconds, it is like they are traveling the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking, the study showed. 

Those who text while driving heavy vehicles or trucks are 23.2 times more likely to be in a crash than non-distracted drivers. 

Cell phone distractions have led to numerous crashes.

In 2011, the National Safety Council found that at least 23 percent, or 1.3 million, crashes involved cell phone use annually.

Hanowski said a primary ban would help change how people think about texting and driving. 

“Driver education is going to increase focus on this — there will be more public service announcements and definitely higher visibility with parents, teachers and peers,” he said.

However, some are concerned with how officers would distinguish between someone dialing to make a phone call or texting. This raises the issue of whether a police officer can seize and search a cell phone, without a warrant, to figure out whether a driver was calling or texting. 

The Fourth Amendment bans “unreasonable searches and seizures” and sets standards for obtaining warrants. However, it does not specify when these warrants are required. In these situations, courts make decisions, and they have allowed police to seize and search cell phones under some circumstances. 

“The constitutional issues would be less problematic if a state law banned all use by drivers of keypads on cell phones and similar electronic devices,” said Wayne Moore, an associate professor in the political science department. “In that case, if a police officer viewed someone using a prohibited device while driving, it would be clearer that the person was violating the law.”

A law of this magnitude could also have unintended consequences.

“Some individuals might try to evade whatever the law banned by trying to use their hand-held electronic devices beneath the dash, out of plain sight,” Moore said. “Thus the more a law banned, or the more severe the penalties, the more it might lead people to engage in more dangerous practices.”

The legislation does not guarantee people will completely stop texting and driving.

“This bill does not make me feel any safer because people will do it anyways. They will just try to avoid it,” said Sara Medina, a freshman biology major.

Countermeasures may be beneficial to encourage the prevention of texting and driving.

Education and training, for example, are very useful in building awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. Last summer, VTTI showed Montgomery County students these hazards through a course setup. Students drove around in golf carts doing different distracting tasks, one of which was texting.

While education may be helpful, there are other measures that can prove more helpful.

“Often the most effective way is technology — technology to solve technology problems,” Hanowski said. “For example, lock outs of some sort that do not permit drivers to text. Some car companies are also integrating technologies into the vehicle and developing new DVI’s, driver vehicle interfaces, that facilitate interaction with the device.”

By the end of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to issue new guidelines for the design of multimedia systems in cars to reduce drivers’ potential of taking their eyes off the road.

A version of this article appeared in the Feb 15 issue of the Collegiate Times.