August 7th, 2007
89% say texting while driving should be banned
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
A recent story I wrote asked the question ” Did Text Messaging While Driving Play a Part in a Fatal Crash?” A Harris Interactive survey commissioned by mobile messaging service Pinger Inc. found 89% of those surveyed believe texting while driving is dangerous and should be banned. More on Pinger later.
Interestingly, despite the above result, additional results indicated that 2/3 of the adults surveyed who drive and use text messaging told pollsters they had read text messages or e-mails while driving and 57% admitted to sending them. And yes, as I’ve indicated before, I’m one of the guilty parties. 
Getting young people, teenagers, and even me to hang up (pun intended 
) on these services will be tough. And this is where Pinger comes in (and obviously why they commissioned this survey … it wasn’t altruistic).
With Pinger, you send a voice message to a person or group by dialing the Pinger number, saying the name or names of those you want to leave a message for, and speaking the message. The recipient gets a text message; dialing the number in the text message will bring you to the voice message. The full Pinger FAQ is here.
The beauty is it’s free, and according to the FAQ, it’ll be free forever, except for perhaps the heaviest users, sometime in the future (but heavy has not been defined). I’ve signed up for an account, and I’ll be trying this in the near future (schedule permitting).
The full text of the press release from Pinger can be found here.
We Say: although I have not tested it yet, it appears there’s still an awful lot of distracting activity, even with Pinger. Although it’s not as bad as texting itself, it’s not that good either.
Nirvana says:
Nuance Mobile Messaging
http://www.nuance.com/news/amazingrace/default2.asp
August 7th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Matt says:
We already have laws against careless driving and reckless driving. Why do so many believe our government must legislate common sense piecemeal? There are plenty of behind the wheel distractions. Nail clipping, for example, could lead to a crash as deadly as texting. I need my lawmakers to deal with more important issues, and let local law enforcement deal with inattentive drivers with laws already on the books.
August 7th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
john says:
Cell phones and texting should be banned and enforced! There is no one looking out for the safety of the public! States that allow it should be subject to law suits from those injured from those doing it! Safety should be the first concern!
August 7th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
R. Atkinson says:
What I want to know is who are the 11% who think it’s just fine to drive down the road while texting!?
August 7th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
taskerfive says:
People that text while driving, even most people that are talking on the phone while driving are oblivious to their surroundings. These people are simply in ignorance of their stupidity.
Maybe a set of flashing red lights in the mirror will snap them out of it before they kill somebody. If I were a cop I’d be writing a dozen tickets a day for this.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:26 am
CB says:
Texting or talking on a cell phone is no different than those who read, talk to a person in the car, fiddle with the radio, eat, put on makeup, etc… etc… etc…
Check out the reckless driving laws… they cover RECKLESS DRIVING… so why do you need a new law for cell phones in particular? Reckless driving covers all of the above, no need to waste time with more laws that already exist in umbrella ones.
Oh, and I do txt while driving a manual and there would be no way to prove someone is txting unless their phone was up high in view of a police officer. Another reason why RECKLESS driving laws should be all that is needed. Watch for the car swerving on the road… that is the reason you’d get a ticket, not the cause of your swerving but the poor driving itself.
August 8th, 2007 at 6:46 am
MissingFrame says:
Hey nobody is making eating a bowl of cereal while driving illegal so it must be OK, right?
August 8th, 2007 at 8:46 am
taskerfive says:
Simply the act of typing a text message and driving are mutually exclusive: either your driving ability is impaired or your texting ability is impaired.
I will assume that while typing a text, your attention is not on the right mirror, where you would see me passing you on the wrong side because you are sandbagging it in the left lane. If you are on the phone you most likely have no idea how badly you are driving, and you don’t have to be “swerving” to be driving badly.
Get real.
You may think you can still drive while texting, that is, until you are proven wrong. It may only cost you a car, it may cost you somebody else’s life. Well my life is more important than YOUR text message. Talk about ignorance and selfishness.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Mr. Magoo says:
Don’t the cops have enough to worry about? Now they have to look for people who may be texting .. give me a break. This is such rubbish. Banning it won’t do anything
August 8th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Mike says:
“No officer, I was entering a new number into my phone, or playing Bejeweled, or editing a photograph, or any of the other 200 things that I can use a cell phone for other than text messaging. Good thing there’s no law against any of those things, or I’d be in some serious trouble.” What constitutes ‘texting’ anyways? Reading a message? Sending one? Is there a difference if you press one button to send an auto-response as opposed to an entire letter? On what planet is this enforceable?
As a media outlet you should be ashamed of yourself for printing such drivel and presenting it as even remotely credible. That a result occurs is not reason enough to document it, never mind legitimize it through publication. Thanks.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Jeremy Toeman’s LIVEdigitally » Blog Archive » Banning drivetexting is costly and pointless says:
[…] Read a few articles (well, mostly reprints of a Reuters piece which seems to be sponsored by a startup - but thats the news these days, right?) this week on the topic of 89% of Americans say texting while driving should be banned, despite the fact that 57% of them admit to doing it. Sounds to me like about 50% of the people feel guilty about the fact that they text while driving, but don’t really want to change anything. […]
August 9th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Jess says:
Maybe people should stop being stupid.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:54 am
stuff says:
you guys r stupid 2 DWT! How many more idoits r we going 2 have in this world!
January 31st, 2008 at 9:01 am
Mike says:
I LOOOOOOVE! To text while driving! It is the funnest thing in the world! Yaaaay for unlimited texts! Thank you sprint!
March 18th, 2008 at 7:54 am
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