Lawmakers cracking down on texting and driving

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By Don Logana - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Driving while texting may be banned nationally after House leaders called for action after recent studies show how dangerous the habit can be.

Some experts say texting while driving has become more dangerous than drinking and driving and so far, it's banned in 14 states.

Driving down the road these days, you are bound to find someone texting or talking on their phone while driving.

We put one expert to the texting while driving test to see just how distracting it can be.

Sue Sharman is usually the teacher. Today, she's texting and driving for the first time. "I didn't like it. Not at all," Sharman told WTOC.

We stuck to a parking lot at slow speeds, but you could tell the difference between two eyes on the road and two eyes on her phone.

"You are constantly looking down. Looking for right letters and numbers, spacing," she said.

We thought it was a safe test, but Sharman didn't see a car nearby.

"Whoa. There's a car. I almost hit it," she said. "I actually had to swerve to keep from hitting him."

Sharman says she gets emotional when she sees drivers like this all the time on the roads.

"Not mad. Just kind of ill knowing they could cause an innocent person to be killed or themselves. It only takes a second and you've done hit something," she said. "You can take your eyes off the road a second and kill somebody, in that second. Just like me coming round that corner. There he was."

"The attitude is most people think, I'm a good enough driver, I can do this and it won't effect me," Chuck Garrett, an instructor at Abercorn Driving Academy, told WTOC.

Garrett has been a driving instructor for seven years. He thinks cell phone use is out of control.

"America has gotten to where they are addicted to cell phones I would say," Garrett said.

And it seems lawmakers are starting to agree. He thinks Georgia should follow the 14 other states that have banned texting while driving and believes cell phones in general, even hands free devices, are a menace to roads. He says they take up to 95 percent of your concentration away from driving safe.

"Driving takes 100 percent of your concentration, 100 percent of time to be a good, safe driver," he said. "When you take 95 percent of your concentration away, you have a potential for disaster right there."

"You cannot check your mirrors. You cannot check your blind side," Sharman said.

After a first-hand texting experience, Sharman agrees with a texting while driving ban.

"No texting. Just like no DUI's. Same thing. You are driving impaired," she said.

Georgia and South Carolina do not have any laws banning texting and Georgia's only law regarding cell phones outlaws bus drivers from talking on the phone while driving.

However, Georgia is working on a law to stop drivers under the age of 18 from driving and talking on a cell phone.

Fore more information about states that already have the ban in place, visit http://www.ghsa.org/.