Texting and driving is now banned in Kansas.
This may be a frustration to some people. Some will consider it an imposition on our rights.
The law cannot predict all possible circumstances. There may be conditions where a reasonable person would deem texting while driving necessary.
Another issue with texting and driving is its severity as a crime compared to calling on the same phone or adjusting the radio.
It’s no worse than using your GPS, which is a legitimate and sometimes necessary car activity.
However, it is a distraction, and so is calling and so is texting and so is talking to people sitting in the front passenger seat.
Texting takes at least a small measure of thought (yes, even to send “lol”), and it distracts both your eyes and your hands.
Anyone who’s been driving a while knows how important it is to keep both hands on the wheel, especially in weather like we’ve had recently.
That doesn’t even account for distractions outside the car. The fact is that driving is a high-concentration activity, and
anything that distracts from the road is potentially dangerous.
But some of these dangerous distractions are necessary from time to time.
So we can’t fully eliminate distractions from our driving experience.
What we should do now, though, is do our best to obey the law. Drivers can face a fine of $60 if caught texting behind the wheel.
And we’re not even mentioning the risks associated with the action itself.
Even if it wasn’t a law, it’s a bad idea. You’re going to be distracted at a critical moment and something bad could happen.
If you were texting and driving in isolation, then you would only be endangering yourself if you are distracted.
But that’s not the case – the road is shared with hundreds of other people at any given moment. When one driver is distracted, every driver and passenger around them is in danger.
That’s something that a lot of people may not think about initally.
Usually in cases like this, the goal is to keep a person from ‘doing whatever could hurt themselves and others.’
This is why there is a law in place, to save lives. To stop drivers from carelessly responding to things that can wait 20 minutes until you get home.
So don’t text and drive.