(Talk of the Town file photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Attorney General Greg Zoeller, below during a visit to Columbia City last year, urges Hoosiers to stop texting while driving.
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Sending text messages while driving is dangerous for all -- and illegal for young drivers -- yet many motorists regardless of age ignore the law and common sense, jeopardizing themselves and others, research has found.
Today, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller hosted AT&T Indiana President George S. Fleetwood and State Sen. Thomas Wyss and joined in urging drivers - especially young drivers - to resist the temptation to send or check text messages while driving.
"Young drivers may already have a false sense of invulnerability. Couple that with the fact that today's young drivers are from a generation that has possessed cell phones longer than they have had driver's licenses, and you have a recipe for a multi-tasking disaster," Zoeller said.
Zoeller today spoke in conjunction with AT&T's national campaign to raise awareness about the risks of texting while driving and to remind all wireless consumers, especially youth, that text messages can and should wait until after they reach their destinations.
"Attorney General Zoeller, Senator Wyss and Senator Travis Holdman are true champions for Hoosiers and we applaud them for taking a leadership role in this important consumer protection issue," Fleetwood said. "Through our network and our devices, we connect a lot of people around our great state. We are proud of that fact and we are also committed to educating people not to text when it might be unsafe for them or other drivers."
Zoeller and Fleetwood today were joined by Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, who for years has been one of the leading advocates for traffic safety in the Indiana General Assembly. Wyss authored Indiana's .08 percent legal limit law and seat belt law, and he chairs the Senate Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs Committee that screens traffic-safety legislation.
"My first public safety legislation in the Senate was accomplished working with teenagers around the state through their SADD group chapters. I am only hopeful that these chapters will help us now to make texting and driving something that teenagers - and all drivers - won't do," Wyss said.
In 2009, the Indiana General Assembly passed a Graduated Drivers License law that State Sen. Holdman authored that prohibits Hoosier drivers ages 18 and younger from texting while driving.
"Last year, lawmakers passed the Graduated Drivers License law not to punish teens, but to help minimize distractions and increase experience behind the wheel," Holdman, R-Markle, said. "As texting-type tasks continue to grow in popularity, we have to use what resources are available to help reduce the amount of crashes and fatalities on our roads."
Any motorist can be distracted no matter their driving experience; and while Indiana's law is specific to younger drivers, adults can be just as distracted by texting.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are three forms of distracted driving: Taking one's eyes off the road (visual), taking one's hands off the steering wheel (manual) or taking one's attention off driving (cognitive), all of which create a greater risk of injury or death while driving. Texting while driving involves all three.
Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving distracted or inattentive drivers and more than half a million were injured. The most frequent offenders are the youngest and least-experienced drivers, men and women under age 20, the research found.
According to the Indiana State Police, the number of Indiana highway traffic fatalities dropped by approximately 16 percent last year from the previous year (814 in 2008 compared to 680 for the same period in 2009) due to stepped-up enforcement and greater seat-belt use, and Zoeller does not want to see the figures rebound.
Moreover, the Attorney General noted that Indiana's personal-injury laws dealing with contributory negligence assign percentages of fault for causing traffic accidents. "Texting while driving will put you immediately at fault, and so you should consider whether your auto insurance company will cover your own negligence," Zoeller said.
AT&T's campaign consists of true stories and the final text messages sent or received before one or more lives were altered, or even ended, because of texting and driving. By featuring the real stories, the campaign will demonstrate how insignificant a text message is compared to the potentially dire consequences of reading or responding while driving.
Utilizing print, radio, TV, online advertising and in-store signage, AT&T's campaign will be rolled out in the coming weeks. Parents, high school educators and youth can visit AT&T's online resource center at www.att.com/txtngcanwait to download information about texting while driving, such pledges for parents and teens and for teens and their friends, a poster, a brochure and safety tips.
AT&T also launched a Facebook application at www.facebook.com/att that friends can share to encourage each other to pledge not to text and drive. AT&T will also be promoting the pledge via Twitter through @ShareATT.
For more about the dangers of texting while driving and other forms of distracted driving, visit the U.S. Department of Transportation web site,
http://www.distraction.gov/.