theregoesdave

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has called a national summit of experts and lawmakers to talk about the hazards of texting and driving. In his remarks, LaHood said that he would ban texting and driving if it were up to him.

Last week, a report came out that indicated that the distraction caused by texting increases a driver’s risk of accident by 23 times. Obviously it’s not a good idea to be fumbling with your keyboard and changing lanes at high speed while weaving down the highway.

However, an official summit at the national level? No thanks.

LaHood’s grandstanding aside, he just has no place in making law, even if it pertains to driving. Even Congress has a hard time pressing states as it pertains to highway safety. Each state makes its own laws about driving drunk, so why on earth would we enforce national law on driving and texting?

In my home state of Virginia, texting while driving is illegal much in the same way as driving without a seat belt. That is to say, that here it’s a secondary offense and you must break another traffic law to get cited for it. That way if you’re driving erratically and obviously distracted, you’re going to get a ticket.

Personally, I like this model because it seems ridiculous to pull someone over for fiddling with their phone (Not that the Virginia General Assembly consulted me directly). In much the same spirit, I believe that each person should be responsible for driving safely and we shouldn’t need a law to enforce that spirit.

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