Oklahoma's new texting while driving ban has now been in effect for a full month, and it has not had quite the impact some people expected. We have allseen texting drivers in our daily commute or as we run errands around town, and it seems like a texting ban should put a damper on that--or at leastgenerate a ton of revenue from the $100 fine.
Instead, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reports that the agency has issued a grand total of 56 texting while driving citations statewide. Some local policedepartments are saying that they haven't issued a single citation for texting while driving.
Is this because Oklahoma drivers are so afraid of a ticket that they put away their phones? Not likely. Instead, some law enforcement agencies point tothe difficulty of enforcing the law.
Tulsa Police Cpl. Steve Wood told the Tulsa World,"Here�s the challenge - texting and driving is illegal; dialing and driving is not. So when driving and I see you on the phone, I don�t knowif you�re dialing or texting, and I don�t have a way to prove it one way or another." His traffic division has not issued one citation for textingwhile driving.
However, others say that it is not that difficult to determine whether a driver is dialing a phone or texting. OHP Lt. John Vincent said that textingdrivers are obvious in their inattention: "Believe it or not, you can pull up next to people because they aren�t paying attention because they arefocused on their cellphone." He said the driver behaviors that indicate texting while driving are often the same as the National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration's (NHTSA) visual cues to predict a drug or alcohol-impaired driver: inability to maintain the lane, failure to recognize or respondto traffic signs and signals, erratic or varied speeds, and crossing the center line.(View our infographic to learn more about the similarities between DUI and texting while driving on our infographic.)
Although many people associate texting and driving with teenagers, studies show that adults are actually more likely to text and drive. An AT&T surveypublished in USA Today showsthat 49% of adults surveyed admit to texting while driving, compared to 43% of teens. And it's hard to convince younger drivers how dangerous it iswhen their parents model the behavior: 41% of teens surveyed say they have seen their parents texting while driving.
What's more is that 98 percent of these adult drivers say that they know texting while driving is wrong; but for some people, texting becomes an almostaddictive behavior. If you are struggling with putting down the phone while you drive, consider putting your device out of reach while driving, ordownload an app to prevent texting while driving.
Sure, the law punishes texting while driving by only a $100 ticket--but when it comes to texting and driving accidents, far too many Oklahomans have paida much greater price.
