Editorials: Texting and driving: dumb and dumber
Editorials September 21, 2012 11:26PM
New driver Brandi Eadie, 16, looks down at her cellphone to read a text message as she drives through a rubber-cone course in Seattle in January 2010 to demonstrate the dangers of using a phone while driving. | AP file photo
Updated: October 24, 2012 6:35AM
Nearly everyone knows it’s dumb. Nearly everyone knows it’s dangerous.
And most of us probably know it’s illegal in Illinois.
Yet, we continue to text and drive.
More reminders every day, and in every way possible, are clearly in order.
Last Wednesday was one of those days. As part of a national initiative spearheaded by AT&T, Gov. Pat Quinn and Secretary of State Jesse White urged Illinois drivers to take a pledge to never text and drive again. AT&T, as part of its “It Can Wait” campaign, also enlisted Chicago Bulls player Derrick Rose to star in a public service announcement.
It’s just the latest effort to try to snap us out of cellphone-induced haze. Public agencies in Illinois have been at this a while already, ticketing law-breakers, posting reminders on electronic highway signs, and even posting the number of highway deaths. That tally, of course, is regularly updated.
What other reminder could we possibly need?
