Editorial: Outlaw texting, not calling, while driving

When it comes to responsible driving, most people will agree that certain in-car activities —… When it comes to responsible driving, most people will agree that certain in-car activities — eating, fiddling with an MP3 player, texting — are to be avoided at all costs.

What some lawmakers fail to grasp, however, is that not all distractions are equally reprehensible.

For a time, House Bill 8, which was proposed by state Rep. Katharine Watson, R-Bucks, seemed like a done deal. The legislation would allow officers to stop and fine drivers caught texting and would add Pennsylvania to the rapidly growing number of states — 32 total — which have outlawed the practice.

Then Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, proposed an amendment stipulating that talking on hand-held cell phones merited an equivalent punishment. Now, instead of undergoing a final floor vote, the bill has been sent back to the notoriously sluggish Appropriations Committee.

We applaud Watson’s initial bill — there is no driving situation in which texting is preferable to calling; the former is in fact an entirely superfluous means of communicating on the go. More importantly, it’s also quite dangerous. According to a statement Watson made in May, studies have demonstrated that even a “dexterous texter” will be looking at something other than the road for at least six seconds.

But Shapiro’s amendment is both politically inept and an affront to the purpose of driving safety laws.

Talking on the phone while driving — a practice outlawed in only eight states, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association — is one of the few distractions that could be justified. If a driver were lost on a highway with no place to pull over, for example, a call to an information center or friend would seem reasonable. Less drastically, if you’re stalled in traffic for a half-hour or more, a brief call to the office could assuage co-workers’ fears that you’re snubbing an important meeting.

This is not to say motorists should make liberal use of their cell phones. Nine times out of 10, chatting on a phone while driving is indeed irresponsible. However, there are several scenarios in which such an ability becomes nothing less than vital.

If lawmakers actually wish to eliminate driving distractions, there are a million potential threats they must contend with: iPods, maps, even the radio. Attempting to address many of these concerns in a single bill seems, in a word, overambitious. Moreover, many of these “distractions” are, in certain situations, quite necessary. To outlaw them without regard for their benefits is foolhardy.

In any case, when it comes to driving safety, Pitt students need only exercise common sense. Unless the matter is urgent, that call to your friend can wait until you’re safely parked in the Soldiers & Sailors Garage (if you can get any reception). As for texting, impersonal communication is overrated — whether it’s on the road or off.