New Jerseyans' Addiction to Cell Phones May Take a While to Wear Off
New Jersey is one of the few states in the country to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, to prevent accidents. The ban isn’t the strongest step we could take towards preventing cell phone-related accidents, but it is still better than no ban at all. Enforcement hasn’t been as aggressive as New Jersey personal injury lawyers would have liked, and I still see far too many motorists with their cell phones glued to their ears.
The Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, however, believes that change will come to New Jerseyans' driving behavior, but it will take time.
Pam Fischer has some words of encouragement for those of us who are concerned at the number of motorists who seem to see nothing wrong in using a cell phone behind the wheel. She promises to push for as many high school students as possible to be made to watch a gripping Welsh PSA video, depicting the deadly consequences of texting while driving. The video shows a teenage motorist text messaging just seconds before crashing her car into another, killing four people in all. The video does a great job of driving home the "don’t text and drive" message, and I hope high school students this year in New Jersey cities, including in Monmouth and Bergen Counties, will be made to watch the video as part of their driver education classes.
Fischer is also a member of the Governor's Highway Safety Association, which recently called for a nationwide ban on texting while driving for all motorists. That call was prompted by a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which found that a motorist's risk of being involved in a car accident increased by 23 times if he was texting while driving.
It's not just the GHSA that is concerned about the effects of cell phone use on traffic safety. Later this month, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will convene a special summit dedicated to discussing the dangers of distracted driving, especially distractions from cell phone use.
