According to the New York Times, the state of Washington has signed a new law that bans driving while texting, or DWT, with a cellphone, Blackberry or other mobile device. All I can say is it’s about time. In fact, they should add another DWT ban (driving while talking) given how it’s nearly impossible for anyone to talk and focus all of their attention on driving at the same time. I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to deal with bad drivers only to see them gabbing away on their mobile phones.
As Phone Boy Dameon points out (http://www.phoneboy.com/node/1489), there are several activities, such as eating, make-up maintenance and grooming while driving, that need to be covered if one were going to be thorough. However, I always assumed that they all were already covered under “careless driving” legislation; I think the courts have supported this notion.
If anyone calls me and I figure out they’re driving, I tell them to call me when they get out of the car and hang-up as quickly as possible. I don’t want to be the reason they get in an accident! Especially since I know I can get a little crazy while talking on eht phone.