How to Stop People From Texting While
Driving
Most states have banned texting while
driving, but distracted driving only
seems to be getting worse. In New York, legislators introduced a
bill that would allow police officers arriving at the scene of a
crash to test drivers’ phones for evidence of recent activity with a device
called the “Textalyzer” — the digital equivalent of the
Breathalyzer. Is this the
best way to deal with public health consequences of texting
and driving? What else can be done to stop this pervasive practice?
* ban = 금(지)하다/ text = (휴대전화로) 문자를 보내다/
distracted = (정신이) 산만[산란]해진/ legislator = 국회의원, 입법자/ arrive at the scene of ~ =
~의 현장에 도착하다/ equivalent of[to] ~ = ~에 상당[대응]하는 것/ breathalyzer = 음주 측정기/
consequence of ~ = ~이 결과/ pervasive = 만연하는
음주 측정을 하는 것처럼, 운전 중 문자 사용하는 만연한 문제를 다루는 가장 좋은
방법은 없나요?
1. Safer Alternatives Are Just
Around the Corner
Any type of communication behind the wheel
carries some risk and distracts the driver, but this technical problem may
benefit from a technical solution.
2.
Incentivize the Opposite Action
To change people’s behavior,
we must change the trigger — in this case, the text or call notification — that
causes the behavior in the first place.
3.
Build Better Voice Technology
Giving the police the
discretion to choose whose phones to examine may disproportionately penalize
some groups of people.
4. Laws and Attitudes
Need to Change
Legislation helps, but the increase in
seatbelt use since the 1970s is proof that drivers can be taught that distracted
driving is dangerous.
Sample
Essay
Laws and Attitudes
About Texting While Driving Need to Change
Five seconds.
That’s how long your eyes are off the road when you text. That’s how long it
takes to drive across a football field at 55 miles per hour. And that’s how long
it took for Jane and Dan Phillips from my home state of Minnesota to lose their
daughter, Kelly.
Kelly’s friend took her eyes off the road to send a
text message or change a song. The car went off the road at a curve and rolled.
Kelly and her friend died.
It’s a common story in our tech-savvy world.
Much too common. And that’s why, together with my colleagues on both sides of
the aisle in the United States Senate, I’ve worked to advance legislation that
will help slow the surge of distracted driving.
My bipartisan
initiatives, which have been included in the last two transportation bills,
encourage states to enact graduated licensing programs, helping new drivers
acclimate to the rules of the road and increase funding for states to enact and
enforce distracted driving laws. It’s laws like these that make it possible for
states to continue educating the public and for law enforcement to step up their
efforts. In April, for instance, Minnesota police officers issued nearly 1,000
citations for texting while driving during a weeklong concerted enforcement
effort.
There’s more work to do. And, of course, this can’t be just
about changing laws, we need to change attitudes, too. But I’m confident that we
can do it because we’ve done it before. In 1970, fewer than 15 percent of
Americans used seatbelts. Today, 84 percent do.
We need to keep working
together until Americans keep their eyes off their phone and on the road. No
text message is worth dying for.