Texting behind the wheel: The new DWI

Texting behind the wheel: The new DWI

Chao Xiong
Minneapolis Star Tribune
September 10, 2010

The driver's eyes were fixed on the Blackberry in his right hand, his thumb flicking across the device as his Toyota Land Cruiser rolled forward in heavy traffic on southbound Interstate 35E on Friday.

Traffic slowed to about 15 miles per hour as cars lined up near the Maryland Avenue ramps, but the Toyota driver still had to brake suddenly when he got too close to the car ahead.

Ramsey County Sheriff's deputy Jason Anderson was tailing him, part of the department's first crackdown on texting while driving, and pulled the driver to the shoulder.

"If it was someone else behind him, it could've been far worse for him, and it could've led to a chain reaction," Anderson said.

Ramsey County deputies ticketed about 50 drivers who were texting while driving and warned another 50 by late Friday afternoon. Deputies issued 161 warnings Thursday, the first day of the crackdown, using a 2-year-
old state law that many say is as important to enforce as drunken driving laws.

Between August 2008, when the statute went into effect, and the end of July, 930 citations were written statewide, said Nathan Bowie, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. The fine typically rings in at $130.

Distracted driving, which includes cell phone use and other causes, contributes to about 25 percent of the state's car accidents each year, Bowie said, killing about 70 people and injuring 350.

In 2009, 389 citations were written statewide, a tiny number when compared to other infractions. For example, 73,867 citations were written for seat-belt violations and 45,652 were written for drunken driving
that year, according to the state's Court Information Office.

The texting law is broader than its colloquial name suggests and covers using a wireless communication device to "compose, read or send an electronic message," including e-mails, text messages and pictures, and accessing the Internet.

Sheriff's deputies handed out information sheets warning that texting and driving is the equivalent to driving after having four beers and that it makes drivers 23 times more likely to crash.

Anderson warned 11 drivers Thursday and ticketed three Friday. The first offender Friday was a 22-year-old man who was clearing his Facebook alerts while driving a large commercial van on Interstate 94. Another man's phone clearly showed that he had a text message typed, but he still denied it when Anderson pulled him over.

"It gets frustrating after a while when you know what you saw and people still don't fess up to it," Anderson said.

Authorities concede that it's not the easiest law to enforce due to its newness and because dialing a phone and talking while driving is legal. Neither is it as clear-cut as a seat-belt violation or speeding, which can be verified with technology.

"It is difficult," said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. "This is new territory in law enforcement." He vowed that his department will begin texting-while-driving saturations monthly, like they do with drunken driving.

"It's become so clear that distracted driving causes deaths," Fletcher said.