• 11
  • August
    2010

Driver's education programs around the country, including schools in Wisconsin, are attempting to integrate educational sessions about the dangers of texting while behind the wheel to reduce the number of texting-related car accidents. But teaching the "cell" generation, who was practically given a cell phone at birth, is no easy sell.

A number of alarming statistics have shown that texting behind the wheel has become a large problem in the US. According to USA Today, 9 in 10 teenage drivers have engaged in distracted-driving behaviors such as texting on a cell phone. Eighty percent of all accidents are the result of distracted drivers and texting raises the likelihood of a car accident by 23 times. Further, combine texting and inexperienced driving skills, you have a situation that almost provokes a car accident to occur.

To combat this dangerous trend, driver safety instructors are stepping up efforts to educate future drivers before they get onto the road. Many school districts have begun incorporating lessons about the dangers of texting in their driver's programs. One exercise asks students to attempt to text while walking a straight line, many failed. The lesson: if you can't text while walking, how can someone text while driving.

Instructors are not the only ones taking action. Wisconsin is the 25th state to make texting while driving illegal, beginning Dec. 1, 2010. Penalties for sending text messages while driving will range from $20 to $400. It will be a similar fine as inattentive driving.

Source: BrookfieldNOW "Driver ed battles texting obsession" 08/10/2010