My grandfather had a saying, not his alone: “Common sense is uncommon.”

Many states considered the driving-while-texting problem serious enough to pass laws banning this practice. That shows how serious this public safety hazard is—one which a dose of common sense could cure overnight.

I am a Crackberry addict and frequent texter. I get it. I like these devices and these channels for sending quick messages, too. I am not so addicted to instant messages, though, that I do not pull over before I call or text and it has to be an important message by anyone’s standard: a sick parent’s doctor is calling, for instance.

But is  a message, “C U at 8,” worth risking lives?

If something is a life-and-death matter, then don’t double the trouble with distracted driving.

No one should drive and text but, most especially, not the drivers of the biggest vehicles on the road—buses and trucks. That is why the Department of Transportation has banned the practice and set fines. The fines are much too low. These drivers should be taken off the road.

What texters may have missed is that lawyers now know to ask for cell telephone records. If someone was talking or texting just before a serious accident, perhaps that crash may not be classified as an accident in the legal sense.  The defendant could face much more serious charges and the damages set would, no doubt, be higher.

Truckers and bus drivers are under pressure to deliver people or goods on time.

Texting while driving either may result in no one getting there on time.

It is easy to tell automobile drivers to pull over to text but pulling off the road to text for a bus or truck would not be.

We already are part of a society much to quick to sue, but in this case, tougher charges, higher fines or a loss of driver’s licenses may be the only ways to stop this dangerous practice.

Drivers of any vehicle, amazingly enough, managed their lives before texting.

They can manage without it now.

Reuters

…”Research by trucking regulators show that drivers take their eyes off the road for much of the time that they send and receive text messages, and they are significantly more at risk of getting into an accident than someone who is not texting.

“The National Safety Council, a research and advocacy group, estimates that 200,000 crashes of all types on U.S. roads are caused by drivers who are “texting.”

“Nearly two dozen U.S. states ban “texting” while driving for all motor vehicles and others are considering similar action. Legislation has also been introduced in Congress to prohibit the practice.

“Many U.S. companies also ban “texting” by their employees while driving on the job.”

Source: Reuters, January 26, 2010