Designed to lure and then catch habitual texters, law enforcement officers have commissioned texting only lanes on your local highways and roadways. Warning, don’t be fooled by this social distraction on your morning and evening commutes, these new texting only lanes come complete with stop and go traffic, fender benders, crash site obstacles and steep fines.
- The reported #1 source of driver distraction today is the use of a wireless device.
- Phone use while driving extends a driver’s reaction time by as much as having a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent.
- Drivers that use cell phones are 4x more likely to be involved in crashes that may injure themselves or others.
- Driving while using a cell phone decreases the amount of brain activity devoted to driving by as much as 37%.
- About 28% of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers who admitted to texting.
30 states, including Maryland, Maine and New York have passed laws making texting while driving illegal with fines up to $500 if caught. See if your state enforces no texting while driving with the Govenors Highway Safety Association chart.
In order to stay away from the fines and danger, try locking your cell phone in the trunk and endure the regular traffic to work…away from your designated texting lane.
