The Indiana Senate voted 26-24 last Friday to ban texting while driving. Making cell phone calls while driving is still legal. Drivers who violate the texting ban can face a fine up to $500.
One question that remains on everyone’s mind is how will this law be enforced? How will a police officer know if someone is texting or messing with their radio?
A lot of states have put texting while driving bans into place. The Highway Loss Data Institute released a study reporting that laws banning texting while driving do not reduce accidents caused by texting. The research was done on California, Minnesota, Washington, and Louisiana right before and right after they put laws into place banning texting while driving. The study is not suggesting that texting while driving is safe (it is not!!!) but they are reporting that laws do not decrease the amount of people texting while driving.
Regardless of what the laws are we hope that people avoid texting while driving along with all other distractions.
