should texting be banned while driving??

Yeah, I guess a lot of people have comments on this subject since it affects anyone who drives. Driving actually is a privilege, not a right. Image if people had the right to drive? We'd have blind people out on the road! Everyone would be driving whether they should be or not. Not everyone has the ten commandments either, I think those only apply to Jews and Christians, maybe Muslims but I'm not sure on that. Those are religious, not given by the state. I don't like the headset solution at all. People walk across the street without looking now too and are just blabbing away on their headset. Or texting. When driving with a headset you lose your hearing in one ear. Having hearing in both ears is what gives you depth to your hearing. You can hear where another car is because you have two ears. I don't text hardly at all since I don't have a texting phone with a keyboard. On my phone it is next to impossible to send a text message. It takes so long that if someone texts me a question I'll just call them back. If I got a text message while driving, I wouldn't even know about it though because I'm not going to try to read something up close while I'm driving and should be looking at the road. Whoever sent me a message can wait. You can't really text on my phone while driving, it would be nearly impossible. It takes like 10 minutes just to send a simple message. If I get a call I answer it "Driving, is this important?" And if so I'll take the call. If not, I'll tell them I'll call them back whenever I get to where I'm going. Which usually isn't that long as I rarely go for drives that are longer than 2 hours.

My mom is deaf in one ear and by what you are saying it sounds like she shouldn't be driving. Some people are deaf in both ears. Should deaf people not have the priviledge of driving? They were born that way it wasn't because they were using an ear bud. They have side mirrors and rear view mirrors on cars to help you know when cars are around. You can't always hear another car when it comes around you unless it has a very loud muffler then of course you would hear that. I hear in both ears and if a car is going at a high speed they can be up on you and you never know til they pass you or hit you. They will pass the laws and just like with speed laws they will be broken and the ones breaking them will injury and kill many others because they feel they are above the law and don't use their common sense. People should just use common sense when it comes to driving. Texting takes your eyes off the road and your hands off the wheel. If you don't have a phone with a keyboard on it you have to continuously look at your phone to hit the right number a certain number of times to get the right letter to appear in your text message. If people are going to talk on the phone in the car then they should make sure they remember they are driving and pay attention to what they are doing instead of getting lost in their conversation and forgot everything around them. I think if they are going to talk on the phone then a headset is the best way to go because if a situation arises they can be in total control of the vehicle with both hands on the wheel. The only reason they put these phone laws into place is because of the irresponsible people. You admit yourself you pick up your phone if it rings. In that split second you could hit someone, swerve, anything. It doesn't matter what your message is to the person on the phone for that amount of time you are not in total control of your vehicle. I had a friend hit someone because she looked at her phone when it rang to see who was calling to decide if she was going to answer or not. 2 seconds she side swiped someone, totaled that persons car and injured them. My friend wasn't driving alone either. She had 3 young children in the car with her. I'm not a saint either. I have answered my phone while driving and have called people while driving. I don't have to dial my phone because it's voice activated i just say dial home etc but I still have one hand off the wheel which makes me vulnerable to situations that may arise. Right now in my state there isn't the law if they put it into effect I would definitely abide by it. We are just now getting the seat belt law going into effect June 1.

wow i didn't realize that with every one being online that this thought would actually be one of the top discussions of the day. anyways, i'm not taking sides here. just going to state facts that we already know about. some say that it's taking away our right to have the freedoms that we came over to this country for. now that being said. i'd say there were no vehicles over here when they came to this country, so there for to some, driving is seen as a privelage given by your country. there for they feel there should be laws and regulations towards it. lets face it people, if we didn't have the ten commandments could you just imagine what life would be like today. use your common sense on these things. pull over if you can do so in a safe place. don't put every one else's life in danger because you can't wait 5 or ten minutes to answer your text. grant i can't stand it when someone is on the phone in the drive thru and trying to tell the drive thru people what they want to eat. it's rude and inconsiderate. Texting is getting to be just as bad. the headsets in walmart should banned when you go through the cashier line cause it gets confusing on who is talking. if you have more response i'd love to read what you have to say. i'll try to respond depending on how many responses a day i have to the discussions. thanks guys.

i can't stand the bluetooth head set. i would rather see a cell phone up to a person's ear than have a bluetooth set because most of the time you can't tell if you are being talked to or if it is someone they are talking to on the phone. It can be very confusing.

I also find that it slows people down and they don't realize they are driving under the speed limit until they wreck because of it.

Seriously! I saw someone shaving their legs while driving the other day, right up on the dash! I think people need some common sense. I don't even use my radio unless I am parked. I like to have my perfect hearing and it has saved me from many accidents. I can hear where cars are around me and so if someone is merging into me I can avoid them even if I don't see them first, I will hear them. People just don't realize it is important to have your eyes on the road and also important to be able to hear.

it's a shame. I seen a man on the internet in a photo with him driving his motorcycle and laying length ways while he was texting. Where is people's common sense. They seem to think the same thing about fashion as well so it doesn't surprise me that using a text or calling someone when they clearly shouldn't be is just bad common sense.

just like some think they drive with one hand and stay in control of the car. yeah right. thanks for responding. sorry its taken so long to respond back.

thanks for responding your discussion is well appreciated to a highly debatable subject

agreed, but more and more people text than call because the cell phone companies put out better texting monthly fees than there calling features. It pays to text.

Well! Smoking while driving is illegal in some places! And as for educating the masses, this kind of law is for the "masses" who didn't get the message, or who couldn't be reached with an education program. In fact, the fear of a fine is actually quite a good lesson for people who need to understand that texting on the move really is dangerous and a significany infringement on other people's right to be safe as they go about their business.

The question that really begs to be asked, is, how much is too much laws? Sure there are a lot of stupid people out there, but those stupid people will probably get into a wreck no matter if they were texting or now. Because if it's not texting they will do something else that is stupid. The question that begs to be asked is, should we ban everything that is dangerous. Do we NEED a fine to hold out hand? To smack us if we misbehave. Do we need a government that jerks the strings on such a fine and minute level that our personal belongings have legal rules attatched to them? What happened to common sense? Do these laws assume that no one has that? Should we then be all locked away because we can't be trusted to make any decisions for ourselves and come up with the right answer on our own?

too bad following celebrities and queens and princesses around with cameras for the press isn't illegal. maybe princess di would still be alive.

they don't really enforce it here either, but if you have a wreck and you were texting you will get a ticket citation for it and there will be other actions taken depending on what happened.

maybe that will make a difference but if the wreck is supposed to happen more than likely it will regardless of whether or not they were texting or talking on the phone. i do notice more and mroe people pulling over as well, and getting off the phone quicker while they drive.

thank you for responding. your thoughts are appreciated and you are right they can cause accidents that otherwise might not happen.