Texting Now Outlawed in Virginia
Virginia House Bill 1876 was signed into law by Virginia, Governor Tim Kaine, and the ban on text messaging by all drivers will take effect on July 1, 2009. The ban was passed by the Virginia General Assembly on March 9, 2009.
Adam Lafon from Radford University wrote in The Tartan, the student newspaper for Radford University that “text messaging has become so ingrained into our culture that it has its own language….” However, he goes on to say in this article that “a negative aspect of this popular trend is driving and texting. While it does not yet have the same negative stigma attached with drunk or distracted driving, this trend has the potential for deadly consequences.”
If you are caught disobeying this new law, there is a fine of $20.00 for the first offense, and $50.00 fine for recurring offenses. However, enforcing the law is somewhat of a problem as you must be pulled over for another offense to be charged with the texting offense.
Our young drivers are more likely to use texting while driving than older drivers as statistics show. This makes these young people more likely to become distracted when they are texting while driving due to their lack of inexperience, and are more at risk for accidents due to this distraction.
There are enough risks that we take everyday while driving. Texting has become another risk, but one that all of us have control over. Let’s all exercise that control so that “distraction” accidents do not occur because someone just could not wait to text a message.
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