Commentary by Lee Cohen
Yes, I am actually counting. Six days now, and counting. Six, five, four, three, two, one………..
No, I am not counting down the days until my much needed vacation or the number of days until the end of the hurricane season, or until my favorite holiday. I am counting down the days until the ban on texting while driving will come into effect in the State of Florida. October 1, 2013 is the magic day and it cannot come a moment too soon.
We have all heard the stats, supposedly 3,000 teens die each year and there are about 200,000 text related crashes. That is worse that DUI. Not surprising because it is an addiction just as much as drinking or drugs. Think about it – how long can you go without looking at or reaching for your phone? And our children, who have developed it as a full fledged method of communication, probably overtaking verbal speech in certain settings, are even worse, constantly texting away, even as they walk through their schools or down the sidewalk. What makes you think that it will stop just because they get behind the wheel of a car.
A few days ago a school bus driver in Hillsborough County was videotaped with a cell phone by a student as the bus driver was texting away while the bus was drifting into the other lane of traffic. The bus was filled with children.
It is shocking that we actually had to pass a law that says you cannot text while you are driving but if a bus driver actually did that with a bus full of children, then, yes, big brother really does need to step in and save us, or at least our children.
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 🙂