I think every state should set its own laws because every state has its own laws regarding speeding, DUIs/DWIs, license plates, parking, etc. So why not texting while driving? If this was a federal mandate, it would still have to be adapted to every state's current texting laws, if they have them, and every state would have to re-examine its current rules anyway. So why not cut to the chase and let every state adapt the texting ban to its current set of punishments.

I'm amazed at the number of people I see on other sites defending the practice. Texting while driving has to rank near the top of any list of stupidest things people do.

yes texting should be banned while driving in all places.

But it is not as distracting in a restaurant or a movie..
altho it should be banned in those places as well

I text only when I'm in stop and go traffic. If the car is going faster than 10MPH.

@pecan 3.14159265: That makes sense. Also stops people from making lame arguments against it just because it the federal government doing something.

@MercuryPDX: (Whoopsie submit!) If the car is going faster than 10MPH... the phone is put away.

@MinorAnnoyance: Agreed. Indiana recently passed a law making it illegal for drivers under 18 to text while driving. Why just the teenagers? Isn't it just as dangerous for other drivers? I believe this kind of law is also being considered in Minnesota.

@MercuryPDX: Same. I'll only text on my phone if I am stopped, at a light or in a parking lot.

@pecan 3.14159265:
I'd agree IF this applied to the general public, but as it's only in regards to Federal Employees, then I have to disagree and say that the Federal government should standardize the rules that apply to its employees.

I mean, I for one would be pissed if I were a FBI agent investigating a national crime, and was fired because rather than focusing on my job I had to worry about which state I was in and if I could SMS/MMS.

What affect does this have on liability if a Federal employee causes an accident by texting while driving? Would it make it difficult for a victim of such an accident to recover medical expenses/etc if the worker is violating a work rule?

I'm a pretty good driver, and drive an average of two hours everyday, give or take. However, yesterday, I was listening, occasionally glancing at my iPod Touch in it's modified cellphone holder level with the dashboard, while listening to "Glee"(Yes, I have been known to strip the audio track from a show/movie, and listen to it if the player didn't have video, and use my imagination/memory to picture it in my mind).

I was so distracted by just doing that extra glancing slightly to the right of my line of sight, that I passed a State Trooper driving in an unmarked car(Crown Vic), and ended up getting pulled over. I usually spot them 1/2 mile away by their grill pattern from behind me or the car shape from the front. Long story short, I did my usual announcing every move before I made it, and even though I didn't have current proof of insurance(I received a letter stamped "ID cards enclosed" from Geico a day or two after I paid my policy online, and didn't open it, but threw it in the car, which was lucky. The letter was postmarked 9/3/09, and the card inside expired 9/9/09. Since he saw me open it, and saw the postmark date, he told me to print/get a new card, and keep that with me, and let me go with a warning.), he let me go. But I KNOW it happened because I was trying to multitask, which humans CAN NOT do.

Talking not hands-free or texting is illegal in California while driving, yet I see cops on the phone while driving all the time. I call BS.

I'm against unnecessary laws. Unsafe driving is ALREADY illegal. Just give out the tickets. We don't need an additional law for every thing that becomes hazardous.

@2 replies by: Oops, guess it was unclear. The poll is meant to ask how, if at all, the general population should be banned from texting while driving. Federal employees should obviously be covered by a federal regulation.

@MercuryPDX: i'll text when i'm stopped, and that's it.
but i've noticed that some people (like the woman in front of me today) will get too involved in their texting, and not notice the light turn green.
(waited about 10 seconds, honked at her, she flipped me the bird.)

@MinorAnnoyance: It still boggles my mind that we even have need an anti-texting law. How anyone could think it's OK to type on a tiny keyboard while driving down the road is beyond comprehension.

@keith4298: But "unsafe driving" is the umbrella for a huge list of things like speeding to the point of reckless driving, DWIs/DUIs, etc. So the current rules would have to be amended anyway to reflect a ban in texting - adding texting to the current rules or establishing the rule separately from the current one is pretty much the same thing, IMO.

@pecan 3.14159265: I agree (despite being a dirty, dirty socialist who think the federal government should be involved in everything), pretty much for the reasons you state here. For consistency's sake, it makes more sense for each state to set their own laws regarding texting while driving, particularly as that precedent has already been set with current laws about talking on your cell while driving.

Incidentally, my state (Maine) recently instituted a "Driving While Distracted" law; it doesn't come right out and ban texting, speaking on the phone or putting on nail polish while you're cruising down the highway, but if you get pulled over for a violation or have an accident while doing any of these things, you'll wind up getting additional charges based on this law. I think that's a pretty reasonable way of handling it, myself, although I still try to refrain from using my cell while I'm on the road, particularly if there are cops around. Just because you can doesn't mean you should

In the case of federal employees, I think it's entirely acceptable for their employer (i.e. the gub'mint) to institute policies that disallow texting while behind the wheel when they're on company time. A number of federal positions entail access to a government-owned vehicle, and I'd say that an employee using that vehicle has no business putting both themselves and a car that's not their own in danger because they just have to fire off a text while driving. If it's that critical, pull over and send it. I don't really see this as being any different from, say, a trucking company instituting a policy that their drivers may not text or talk on the phone while driving company-owned vehicles.

@Alex Chasick:
Ahh yes. When placed ajacent to the context of the article confusion does ensue. :-p
In that case my vote would have been different.

@keith4298: I agree. It astounds me that we need a separate law for this. What's next, a law against sleeping while driving? A law against reading the paper while driving? There are so many stupid things people with no common sense can try that it's silly to try to ban each one individually.

@gStein: Worst part is, where I live, honking your horn in that situation is actually illegal.

@2 replies by: If you were investigating a national crime, would you really be doing it via text while driving?

I see on a lot of other sites that people are against banning it.
But if these same people who don't like the ban, if someone was doing it and that person got in an accident and they got seriously hurt, or if a texter get in an accident with a family member or loved one, and they got hurt badly or even died, they then would want it banned then.

@Oranges w/ Cheese ontopofBrocolli: I do that. Stop and go traffic is too dangerous for me to text during. I get distracted and would probably end up rear-ending someone at a very slow speed.

@h3llc4t has a slow work day: On Criminal Minds, they get information and addresses via text all the time.

@MinorAnnoyance: I don't see the logic in being against a ban on texting while driving. This is something that affects everyone. Either you're a driver, a passenger, or a pedestrian who can be affected by this. Texting while driving doesn't benefit anyone, and is an action that can potentially harm a ton of people.

@Orv: Seriously?
Sounds like someone had a little bit of a power-trip when deciding to make using a common feature on your vehicle illegal.

If you don't mind, whereabouts do you live?
(I try to avoid areas like that like the plague.)

It's too dangerous to text while holding a cup of coffee and the morning paper.

Texting while driving is illegal in my state (MD) as of yesterday. I am all for this. I don't do it myself, but having a friend who rear-ended someone at a light while texting and having nearly been hit on the Beltway by an idiot who was driving with his elbows while typing on his Blackberry, it's long overdue. I think it's even worse than talking on the phone, because you're just as distracted but at least while talking you are looking at the road and not down at the phone.

@keith4298: Yes, when they criminalize sex while driving I will be forced to install a car bomb.

@2 replies by: Washington state. The law is that you can only use your horn in an emergency situation. I've never heard of it being enforced, though. Many other places (most hilariously, New York City) have similar laws aimed at reducing noise.

@Orv:
That's the only thing keeping me on the fence regarding the issue of officially banning it. Creating a law to cover a technology trend is, imo, asking for trouble.
Laws created are not very easy to repeal, and who's to say that 20 years from now anyone will even be texting anymore?

"Your honor, my client wasn't texting. She was emailing and twittering."

Makes me wonder if there are any stale laws on the books out there about using a pager while driving.

@Colonel Jack O'Neill: If a teenager, senior, or woman was driving, they would want those banned too. (Luckily we're getting there in terms of teens and seniors, but too many women vote--tyranny of the majority)

Only text I enter is the password to unlock my Blackberry. Texting is turned off on my company phone though so I never really "text". I can send and receive email but I don't like doing that while driving.

@morlo:
On a point-specific-law side-jaunt...
Can I propose we amend the written English language to make it required that the 'y' in 'tyranny' be bolded when used while speaking about gender?
O_o

@MercuryPDX: You can still do plenty of damage if you hit something at 10 MPH while not paying attention. Nothing is important enough to text that one can't wait another few minutes until the car is stopped.

Let's get phones totally out of the driving experience!

Can't say how many times I have had to react to a driver on the phone or be behind one on the interstate in the left hand lane with no clue of the results of their actions!

@2 replies by: In most states it's not illegal to drive in a puddle to splash people on the sidewalk. Just a weird fact.

Only the states can know what's best for their citizens. The federal government has no business meddling in local law enforcement matters.
That said I would support such a law at state/city level.

@pecan 3.14159265: Though the minimum age for alcohol purchase is de facto federal, because it's tied to highway funding. I believe "Click It or Ticket" and .08 as a limit may be as well. So the state has a right to set a different law--if it's willing to forgo millions to do it. I could see distracted driving enforcement falling into that same category.

@pecan 3.14159265: We finally agree on something. States should set the law. My reason is because the states are supposed to set the laws. States gave the federal government it's powers, not the other way around.

@FaustianSlip: That's a good idea, Driving while Distracted. That pretty much covers everything.

@maruawe42: Yes it IS distracting in a movie. The little screen is bright and the *clickclickclickclick* makes me want to shove the phone up the person's ass.

@HogwartsAlum:

+1. It's so friggin' annoying in theaters. We're at a point where we don't go to see anything remotely popular, at least not until it's been out for a while. The lack of movie etiquette is astonishing to me.

@GitEmSteveDave_@Gmail.comNeedsAWaveInvite:
LOL. You lost me at hello. What are you talking about?!?

@AgentTuttle:
They are cops and are, therefore, above the law.

@pecan 3.14159265:
Agreed. In my job I review MVRs all the time. The more detail on them the better. "Unsafe driving" tells me very little about an offense. Driving While Texting on an MVR would be fairly clear.

@yevarechecha:
He was driving with elbows while typing on a Blackberry? They should just impounded his car afterward. He's too stupid to have one.

@thrlsekr:
Agreed. I can usually tell someone is on the phone just because of the way they're driving. We all survived many years of not having them available; that call can't wait until you get home? Really?