Again and again, we see drivers distracted by cell phones or other hand-held electronic devices. This dangerous behavior has resulted in numerous deaths and injuries on streets and highways. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, more than 90,000 crashes in 2012 were linked to distracted driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concludes that a driver who is talking on a cell phone is 30 percent more likely to crash.
The risk is increased even more when sending a text message, as it takes a driver’s eyes and hands away from the task of driving long enough to travel the length of a football field. This is a deadly time of distraction which endangers not only the driver, but his or her passengers and others navigating the roadways.
Fourteen states, as well as D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones. All are primary enforcement laws whereby an officer can cite a driver for using a hand-held cell phone without any other traffic offense occurring. The first ban on texting and driving was enacted in 2007 and there are now a total of 44 states that have implemented the same ban. More than 20 cities in Texas, including San Antonio, have some form of texting ban.
Although many people in San Antonio don’t know it, an ordinance was established in 2010 prohibiting the use of a hand-held mobile device (except for dialing telephone numbers or talking to another person) while operating a vehicle and provides a fine of up to $200 per violation. The distracted driver problem is greater than using mobile communication devices, but the point of pursuing a hands-free ordinance is to make sure drivers operate more safely.
Since the City-wide ban began, there have been more than 1,900 accidents attributed to distracted driving related to the use of hand-held mobile devices. Of that total, six were fatal and 28 were incapacitating. The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) has issued 7,038 citations to drivers using hand-held mobile devices since 2009.
While the City took a step in the right direction with the Distracted Driving Ordinance, I believe there is more we can do to improve public safety and reduce the distracted driving hazard. That is why I have requested that City staff examine the current ordinance related to the ban on the use of hand-held mobile communication devices and add a provision stating that they may only be used in a “hands-free” capacity unless in an emergency situation.
The intent of this amendment to the ordinance is to curb distracted driving as well as to provide SAPD with a better ability to enforce the ban on hand-held mobile communication devices while driving city-wide.
As distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic throughout the nation, Council would certainly make the roadways of San Antonio a safer place for everyone if a hand-held device ban were implemented. Such a ban would not infringe on anyone’s rights, rather it would serve to improve public safety.
Remember, driving is not a right—it is a privilege and we owe it to other drivers on the road and ourselves to operate a vehicle in the safest manner.
*Featured/top image: Texting while driving. Public domain photo.
Editor’s note: This story was republished with permission from District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher’s office.
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Yet again San Antonio is debating regulations that other cities have had in place for years … Why is San Antonio always behind ….
Remove radios, gps, food, pets, crying kids, etc then.
Excellent! This is urgently needed and thank you, Mike Gallagher for bringing it up.
Let’s be as smart as Hawai’i – and many other places.
Hands Free vs. Hand Held…… it does not matter and there are studies that prove it. The problem is distracted driving. It is the act of actually talking to someone on the phone that is the real issue that causes the accidents. Hands Free does not solve the problem. Making it illegal to talk on any phone while driving is the solution. Hands Free is only a feel good law that will not reduce the number of accidents.
Simor is correct. Need to ban phones. The studies DO show that the PHONE CONVERSATION is as dangerous as DUI. Clearly dialing is an issue, but electronic devices need to be banned for drivers.
Good idea.
Hands-free doesn’t improve focus much; the trouble is that your mind focuses on the conversation, not driving.. This wouldn’t do much good.
This is a public safety issue…
He asks the same people that thought light rail downtown and toll roads were a good idea. What could possibly go wrong ?
Blue tooth to the rescue
Quit telling us what we can’t do.
Alright, let’s imagine “they” quit teling you what you can’t do.
OK, then go ahead and drive while drunk.
OK, then go ahead and drive 80 wherever you want.
OK, then go ahead and drive without a seatbelt (increasing hospitalization costs).
OK, then go ahead and drive on the wrong side of the highway.
OK, then go ahead and try to enjoy your backyard while your neighbors are burning trash in their backyards.
OK, then go ahead and try to sleep while your neighbors are playing music in their backyards at 2:00 AM.
OK, then stop paying your property, income & other taxes. Don’t let ’em tell you what to do.
Yep, we all gotta be free to do whatever the hell each of us wants to do, regardless of how irresponsible, interfering, or dangerous it is. Viva anarchy!
Phone conversations take the mind’s focus and we lose our surroundings. When you drive and talk on the telephone, you have little clue about your surroundings. When you drive and talk, you can end up at your destination and have no idea what happened along the way.
All electronics need to be banned for the driver. The studies DO show that telephone driving is every bit as dangerous as DUI.
What constitutes an emergency under the proposed ordinance? My concern is know people will put their phones in their laps to text further extending the time their eyes are off the road. The proposed ordinance could be perceived as an attempt to make “political points” versus solving the problem.
What constitutes an emergency? To me, anything that would warrant a 911 call is an emergency. Being late for a massage or trying to figure out where your spouse is or realizing you ordered the wrong topping on a pizza to go AREN’T emergencies. For such calls, stop the car out of traffic and place the call. Again, I challenge every driver in SA who uses a hand-device (for phoning, texting, mapping, whatever): Are you as good (safe, attentive, reactive, law-abiding, turn-signaling) a driver when you are using the device as you are when you aren’t? Please answer that question honestly. I’ll answer first for myself: No. And I can’t believe anyone is.
I appreciate the response on what constitutes an emergency and I think the idea of eliminating texting/calling/reading email while driving has merit. However, human behavior is what it is. We have pretty strict DUI/DWI laws and I’m sure it has deterred driving under those conditions, but it certainly has not eliminated it. Unfortunately, we live in a fast-paced world that too often requires utilization of every minute of your time to attend to work, personal needs, and family life. I don’t see too many people storing their cell phones in the trunk when they drive.
I agree with you. But I think it isn’t just the demands of the fast-paced world we live in that causes folks to rely on distracted driving to get things done. I think self-centeredness, a distorted sense of invicibility (“I drive fine when I text”), and “the laws apply to idiots, not people like me,” etc. , enter into why some folks are perfectly content to drive while using e-devices. My greater concern is that children today are modelling their behavior on adults who readily drive distracted.
Perhaps the attempt to get folks to “hang up and drive” should be replaced that an all-out campaign to get drivers to learn/re-learn safe driving habits. Use turn signals, Stay on your side of the street. Don’t cross solid white lines when changing lanes. Make proper left turns that don’t cut into oncoming traffic lane. Learn what a yellow light, yield sign, stop sign, stop line, crosswalk, right-turn-on-red-AFTER STOP, mean. If each driver learns what responsibilities and skills each licensed driver is expected to have, then maybe drivers will realize that using an e-device while driving interferes with responsible, safe driving.
I dunno, maybe it’s useless and I need to accept that “modern life” means living in a jungle of increasing irresponsibility and safety ignorance from others in my species.
You make some good points. I agree that we, as a society, have room for improving our bad behaviors. My wife’s badgering of me to stop texting while driving did modify that behavior. She is right, hurt something or someone and you will regret your texting and driving. I’m working to totally eliminate my texting and driving. Hopefully, others will too.