Pro
By Kassandra Perez
Arizona is one of only two states that has not implemented a law banning texting and driving. For the ninth year, state legilators voted down the bill.
This is insane. How many more deaths and injuries need to occur before this state passes a law?
The Senate President Andy Biggs argued that this bill is unnecessary because police are already monitoring distracted drivers. Well, if that is true then why are there so many accidents occurring due to distracted drivers?
Many lives are at risk because of this issue. One driver could be driving cautiously while another driver comes along recklessly and rear-ends the other driver. What’s even worse is the fact that in these accidents the person who was driving cautiously is often the one who gets hurt.
I see police cars pass by drivers on their phones and neglect to pull them over.
According to http://www.textinganddrivingsafety.com/, in 2011, 23% of car accidents were caused by cell phones, causing 1.3 million crashes that year alone. They also state that just five seconds is the minimal time taken away from the road to send a text message. The website explains that if a driver is traveling at 55mph, it is equivalent to driving the length of a football field without looking. They also said that sending a text message makes a car accident 23 times more likely to happen.
What we need in this world is for safety to be taken seriously, not just taken into consideration. Creating a bill that will ban texting and driving will have a positive impact because it will allow people to understand that this topic is important.
There are laws against drinking and driving which have decreased the amount of drunk drivers and deaths all over the country.
If those laws allowed lives to be saved, then creating a bill against texting and driving simultaneously could similarly make a positive difference.
Con
By Stephanie Yang
Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, worked with Senate President Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, to pass a bill that would make texting while driving illegal under all circumstances. The two have been fighting for the bill since 2007, and for the 9th consecutive year, the bill was not passed.
If a bill that outlaws texting were to be passed in Arizona, there would be very little impact on whether or not someone would actually follow that law.
Just as some people don’t wear their seatbelts, or as others put undersized children in the passenger seat, people would still text and drive, regardless of the law. This is not to say that people should text and drive, but that those who already do would most likely continue to.
Until there is a better way to ensure that cell phones will not allow texts to pass through while in the car, which could be months or years from now, there is no way to ensure that the passing of this bill will result in the desired outcome.
The idea that such a bill would pass after a previous eight attempts, with little change to parts of the bill, is blind to the fact that people are glued to their phones in today’s society, and it is virtually impossible for them to go a second without checking them.
With the help of Apple CarPlay, people can now text hands-free in their cars. However, any focus off of the road can lead to a mistake, and texting and driving in any form is dangerous.