Texting ban approaches Ind. Senate

Tyler Jordan thought he was an exception. He thought he could text and drive safely.

But he was wrong.

“I was texting while driving, and I dropped my phone,” Jordan said. “I looked down to get it and didn’t realize there was a car stopped at the top of the hill; I hit it going at 35 miles per hour.”

Jordan, a former Bloomington resident and freshman at Ball State University, totaled the other car because he was more concerned about his cell phone than concentrating on the road.

While a current ban on texting while driving exists in Indiana, it only applies to drivers younger than 18 years old.

Rep. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, recently recognized that the danger extends to drivers of all ages and proposed House Bill 1129.

The bill would prohibit all motorists from sending or reading text messages or e-mails while behind the wheel.

The House Roads and Transportation Committee approved the bill with a 10-2 vote Jan. 19, and the bill passed through the House 85-11 Tuesday. The bill will now proceed to the Senate for additional consideration.

The current version of the bill would make typing, transmitting or reading any electronic mail message a Class C infraction, which allows fines of up to $500. The bill would not apply to the use of cell phones to browse the Internet, make calls or the use of smartphone applications.

IU sophomore Jay Sojdehei said he opposes the proposed bill because of all the exemptions.

“How could an officer prove I was texting?” Sojdehei said. “I could still be defiant and tell him I was playing Brick Breaker or calling my mom.”

Sojdehei said he did not disagree that texting while driving is dangerous, but he thinks $500 is a lot of money for a minor traffic offense.

Many studies, however, attempt to prove that texting while driving should be considered more than a minor traffic offense.

A simulated experiment conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory of the United Kingdom, published in 2008, revealed that a ban on texting while driving may be more necessary than laws against operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“When texting, a driver presents a greater risk than when at the legal limit for alcohol or when under the influence of cannabis,” the study found.

The experiment concluded that a driver’s reaction time deteriorates by 35 percent due to texting, making them almost three times slower than those who consumed alcohol to the legal limit of .08 and slower than those under the influence of cannabis, whose reaction time is lowered by 21 percent.

Lt. Troy McElfresh of the Indiana State Police said the department does not know how it would enforce the ban until further review.

He said it would be difficult to determine whether someone was texting or looking at the phone to make a call.

“A lot of the enforcement may come after the fact,” McElfresh said. “For instance, if someone is involved in a serious crash, we would then take a look at their phone records and determine if texting while driving was the cause.”

The current version of the bill does not allow law enforcement officers to confiscate cell phones for evidence or investigation.

All-Star Driving School instructor Aaron Parker said he thinks it will take more than a ban to stop the practice.

“It’s what we call the superhero effect,” Parker said. “Unfortunately, even with drinking and driving, it usually takes a personal tragedy or a front-page story in the local newspaper to realize it can happen to you.”