The City Scene
Reading between the lines?
Cell phone ban could be a welcome distraction
By Lindsay Sauvageau

It is no secret, I am a text message junkie.

I text friends when a favorite TV shows are on. I text my sisters when I hear some good gossip. I text my friends while driving - usually because a favorite song is on.

Growing up in the age of the chat room and the instant messenger, it was effortless and even comforting to find that when I purchased my very own cell phone I could add a texting plan to my coverage.

As someone who has also never really been a phone-talker, texting became second nature. If I have a quick question for someone, I text. When I am thinking of a loved one, I text just to tell them they were in my thoughts. When I am mad at someone and don't want to lose it over the phone, I text. When someone asks my opinion and I know I couldn't lie in person, I text.

When I began working for the newspaper and my life became markedly busier - prior to becoming a reporter I spent the summer after I graduated college working part time at a local Pizza Hut and the other half building LEGO scenes from my favorite movies, playing video games and getting icy drinks from Dairy Queen - my texting frequency did not diminish with the increase in travel.

I'm a drive-by texter. But that does not mean I approve of texting while driving. In fact, I have been trying hard not to be on my cell phone at all while I'm in the car and if the call is important, like a call for work that I've been waiting for, I immediately (and safely) pull over so I don't get in any accidents. It's not because I have recently seen the error of my ways but that though I may feel confident about my abilities to multi-task, I feel nowhere near confident enough to take other people's lives into my hands. And now I know even just a quickie text might be out of the question soon in light of a new bill being examined by the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Recently, the House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would slap Massachusetts

drivers with a fine for using call phones, pagers, PDAs and laptops while driving. According to the 16 amendment proposal, first passed by the Joint Committee on Transportation, drivers spotted using these devices could be fined $100 for their first offense, $250 for the second, and $500 for subsequent offenses. Though hands-free technology would still be allowed, questions like, "should people be allowed to dial their phones before talking on them in the hands-free mode?" are reasons why the house wants to review the bill closer.

While fines might make life a nuisance for adult drivers and many are saying that the government should not be trying to tell us whether or not we are capable of being responsible with our portable toys, this bill could seriously effect younger drivers. According to the legislation, any drivers under 18 could face license suspensions.

Overkill? I think not. According to one statistic I found, in 2006 the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Massachusetts, reported that cell phone use contributed to 1,092 car accidents between January 2003 and October 2005. During that time, 16- to 17-yearolds caused roughly 10 percent.

Personally, a friend of mine was struck while driving down John Fitch Highway in Fitchburg several years ago by a teen talking on her cell phone. The driver's side door was crushed in and though no one was hurt, the teen driver claimed she had done the same thing to a friend of hers only a few weeks prior. Just a few weeks ago, I watched a woman on her cell phone nearly sideswipe another car in downtown Fitchburg. And that's not the only "close call" I've seen or experienced, convincing me that this new law may not be so bad.

Everyone may agree with banning cell phones and such all together, I think everyone can agree at least that operating heavy machinery should require our greatest attention. Driving is a distraction all on its own, do we really need to keep pushing our luck by juggling behind the wheel too?