Ashley Shults somberly recalls the death of a boy near her Nashville hometown, killed in a wreck while driving and texting.
The University of Memphis English major now forbids friends to drive and use their cell phones as keyboards while she’s in the passenger seat.
But when Shults gets behind the wheel, she’s all thumbs.
“I know it’s dangerous, but I can’t stop,” she said.
Texting and driving in Tennessee became illegal on July 1, with a citation that carries a $50 fine.
Yet for many motorists, it’s only encouraged them to become more discreet texters.
“It was bad enough when the cell phone craze started. But now more people are using cell phones to text than to make phone calls,” said Steve Shular, spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a Harvard study, cell phone use causes an estimated 2,600 U.S. traffic deaths every year.
And studies show unbridled texting behind the wheel can be just as deadly, if not more, than driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Shular said.
“The main issue is people are distracted,” he said.
The government doesn’t track deaths from texting, but fatalities resulting from the habit are being reported across the country. Among them is a Giles County, Tenn. resident, who was sending a text on I-65 when he collided with another car.
DWT, or driving while texting, is a particular problem in the Volunteer State, where a recent survey found the state ranked highest for texting behind the wheel.
The Vlingo Corp., a Massachusetts-based maker of speech-recognition technology for mobile phones, found 42 percent of surveyed Tennesseans admitted to DWT.
Arizona had the fewest offenders at nearly 19 percent.
And it’s not just teens who are typing on asphalt.
Samuel Jackson, a business major at the University of Memphis, says he never texts while driving, but his dad’s BlackBerry habit is frightening.
“We’ll be driving on the e-way and he’ll start drifting to the right,” he said.
There are no citations for DWT on the books in Memphis and Shelby County since the law went into effect, according to the General Sessions Court Clerk’s office.
But that’s most likely because it’s so difficult to catch someone in the act, Shular said.
“Unless, the officer actually sees them texting, it’s not a violation,” he said.
Characteristics associated with DWT, like wandering into other lanes or running lights, are often slapped with citations for inattentive driving, he said.
Tennessee is one of 18 states and the District of Columbia that have banned texting and driving.
State Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, who introduced the legislation, said, “I know realistically the law isn’t going to stop people from doing it.”
However, he believes it’s helping.
As motorists cross Tennessee state lines, electronic billboards warn dexterous drivers of the ban, he points out.
“I think we have slowed it down. We have built awareness,” Lundberg said.
Joe Pietrangelo, a 33-year-old Downtown resident, wasn’t aware of the law.
“Yeah, I think it’s dangerous,” he said of driving and texting.
However, he said, texting is only one of many dangerous activities that go on in the driver’s seat.
People eat, talk on the phone, put on make-up, the list goes on, he said.
A graphic public service announcement from the United Kingdom on DWT has gone viral, and has been causing a stir here.
Posted on YouTube and discussed on everything from FoxNews to National Public Radio, the scene of a teenage girl driving and texting with her two girlfriends in the car, turns into a bloody neck-snapping accident.
It’s a disturbing image that law enforcers hope strikes a nerve.
For drivers like Shults, it does. But just not enough.
“I’ve had a number of close calls,” she said about reading and sending text messages while driving. “But I feel like I have to send it right out.”
By Lindsay Melvin (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Thursday, September 24, 2009