Tim Couch
Professor Glen Williams
SC105-12
November 18, 2009
Title: A Dangerous Message
Purpose: To convince the audience that Missouri’s “Texting Law” should include drivers of all ages
Introduction:
I. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new trend hit the automotive industry that has provided controversy to this day.
A. That trend was the introduction of the mobile phone to cars around the United States.
II. Although the technology has evolved at an incredible pace, the controversy is the same: whether or not mobile phones should be banned from use during driving.
III. This question has become a serious topic of debate among politicians and citizens as cell phone related vehicle accidents continue to rise.
IV. Especially of concern is the practice of text messaging while driving, a type of communication that causes a driver to take his or her eyes off of the road, completely and for relatively long periods of time.
V. Such concern prompted the Missouri General Assembly to recently address the issue of text messaging while driving.
VI. The result was House Bill 62, which Governor Jay Nixon signed into effect on July 9, 2009, (Missouri State Highway Patrol).
VII. The law, however, was only a minor victory with regard to cell phone usage in automobiles.
A. In fact, the law only applies to drivers twenty-one years-of-age and younger (Missouri General Assembly).
VIII. Text messaging while driving, at any age, though, poses a serious threat to our safety, and any regulation should not be limited to drivers under the age of twenty-one.
IX. (Thesis) The Missouri “Text Messaging” law should be expanded to include drivers of all ages.
X. (Preview) In order to understand why the law should apply to all drivers, we must first consider the provisions of the current law as well as how other states address the topic.
(Transition): The law crafted in Jefferson City provides but a partial corrective.
I. Missouri’s text messaging law is shortsighted.
A. The primary provision of this law is the age restriction the Missouri General Assembly places on drivers who text message while driving.
1. Statute 304-820 specifies that “no person twenty-one years of age or younger operating a moving motor vehicle . . .shall . . . send, read, or write a text message or electronic message” (Missouri General Assembly).
2. It is important to note that this law in no way bans the use of cell phones by drivers to make a phone call; rather, it is the use of cell phones to text message that is the issue.
B. With this information in mind, one point of interest remains: why did the Missouri General Assembly only restrict drivers under the age of twenty-one from text messaging while driving?
1. The answer to this question is rather simple: demographics.
a. It is widely assumed that teenagers comprise the majority of text messaging drivers.
b. And, in fact, they are.
i. Liza Barth of Consumer Reports cites Pew Research Center study findings that twenty-six percent of American teen drivers send or receive text messages while driving (Barth).
a) That’s one in four who text and drive.
ii. Pair those findings with a 2008 study completed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that found that sixteen percent of fatal car crashes involving drivers under the age of twenty were caused by cell phone use (Barth).
(a) In other words, one out of every four teenagers text while driving and nearly one out of every five fatal car accidents involve drivers under the age of twenty who were using their cell phones at the time of the accident.
iii. In addition to these sobering statistics, stories such as that of Victoria McBryde sway politicians to implement laws that ban text messaging while driving.
(a) On November 20, 2007, twenty-four year old Victoria McBryde was struck and killed when a car driven by then twenty year old Phillipa Curtis drifted onto the shoulder (Rosenthal 1).
(b) Investigators found that Ms. Curtis had been texting while driving, which is why she failed to see Ms. McBryde’s stalled car on the shoulder (Rosenthal 1).
iv. Similarly, the story of Emmanuel “Manny” Mejia has caused politicians to reconsider their standpoints on the issue.
(a) On August 25, 2009, twenty year old Manny Mejia was struck by a car driven by twenty-six year old Stephen Horne in Tampa, Florida (Cohn, Smith, and Cohn).
(b) According to police records, Horne was writing a text message when his car smashed into the back of a garbage truck, pinning Mejia between the two vehicles (Cohn, Smith, and Cohn).
(c) Mejia, who lost both of his legs in the incident, recalls, “My legs just got taken off right there and I remember rolling off the hood of the car into the driveway on the side of the road and I looked down and both of my legs were . . . severed. They were already amputated right there” (Ben).
(d) As a result of the incident, Horne has been charged with felony reckless driving, a felony that can carry a fifteen-year prison sentence if Horne is found guilty (Cohn, Smith, and Cohn).
c. Stories, such as that of Victoria McBryde and Manny Mejia, and statistics, such as those presented by Liza Barth, display the harsh reality that text messaging while driving is a dangerous practice.
(Transition): It is easy to see how our law is shortsighted, especially when we consider what other states are doing.
II. Similar text messaging laws in other states help reveal our law’s shortcomings.
A. The passage of legislation in multiple states makes it safe to assume that texting while driving is a serious threat to the safety of drivers across the United States.
B. According to data gathered by the Governors Highway Safety Association, a total of nineteen states as well as the District of Columbia have made it illegal for drivers of all ages to text message while operating a motor vehicle (Governors Highway Safety Association).
C. In addition to these nineteen states, nine states enforce special restrictions when it comes to drivers and texting (GHSA).
1. In Maine, for example, drivers under the age of eighteen are not allowed to text while driving (GHSA).
2. Likewise, drivers in Mississippi and Kansas who only have a Learner’s or Intermediate License cannot text while driving (GHSA).
D. Of these twenty-eight states that have laws restricting text messaging while driving, twenty-five of these states consider the matter to be of primary enforcement (GHSA).
1. Primary enforcement means that an officer may issue a ticket to a driver without any other traffic offense taking place (GHSA).
a. Texting offenses in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas are all considered to be of primary enforcement (GHSA).
E. Text messaging, and the threat it entails behind the wheel, caught the attention of Washington D.C., too.
1. In his USA Today article, Doug Stanglin reports that the United States Department of Transportation has banned texting among bus and commercial truck drivers (Stanglin).
2. “Violators can be fined up to $2,750” under the new law (Stanglin).
3. According to Department of Transportation secretary Ray LaHood, “We're simply sending a message: when we advise drivers to share the road responsibly, we mean it” (Stanglin).
F. Although these are potentially great steps for reducing texting-related vehicle accidents, Sarah Lynch of Time Magazine asks whether or not these laws are being enforced.
1. In her article “Text-Messaging Behind the Wheel,” Lynch examines North Carolina’s universal ban of text messaging while driving.
a. Lynch cites findings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that drivers under the age of eighteen actually texted more after the law went into effect than they did prior to the law going into effect (Lynch).
b. Also of interest, “only 100 cell-phone violations were issued in North Carolina to teen drivers in 2007” (Lynch).
i. Lynch notes two factors that might explain the lack of compliance and the lack of enforcement.
a. Lack of compliance might be explained, in part, by the lack of publicity for the “no texting” campaign.
b. Lack of enforcement might be attributable, in part, to the inability of officers to distinguish between age groups.
c. As Lynch observes, not being able to distinguish a driver’s age leaves the texting law nearly unenforceable (Lynch).
(Transition): Although many states have tried to limit text messaging activity among drivers, perhaps the best alternative is to ban text messaging for drivers of all ages.
III. Logic and data suggest that the Missouri text messaging law should be applied to all Missouri drivers.
A. One reason the law should be extended is to avoid the issue officers in North Carolina faced in 2007.
1. How can an officer driving in one direction tell the age of the driver going the opposite direction?
a. At the very most, an officer may get a brief glimpse of a motorist, which makes it difficult to discern a driver’s age.
2. Also, what happens if an officer pulls a driver over and the driver is legally allowed to text message and drive?
a. This could potentially lead to a major lawsuit that involves some infraction of the individual’s Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.
b. Such a lawsuit could undermine the protection the law intended to provide us.
B. Another issue that supports the idea of universally applying the text messaging law is maturity.
1. How does a driver who is thirty years old have the ability to focus on a text message and the road at the same time when a twenty-one year old does not have that ability? Is someone in their thirties or forties superior at text messaging?
2. What about a sixty year old?
a. Are sixty year olds that much better at driving and texting than twenty-something year olds?
3. Also, what process occurs in my body the night of my twenty-first birthday that allows me to wake up the next morning and be able to text and drive at the same time without losing focus?
C. Finally, there is the issue of safety.
1. A study completed at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that individuals who text messaged while driving increased their chances of crashing by over twenty percent (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute). Twenty percent.
2. Also, those same drivers took their eyes off of the road an average of 4.6 seconds per six-second interval (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute).
a. According to researchers, “This equates to a driver traveling the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the roadway” (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute).
b. A lot can happen in that amount of space, couldn’t it?
c. To put this idea into perspective, think about walking into this very room a little while ago.
i. Would you close your eyes for nearly five seconds upon entering this room?
ii. Now, if you will, close your eyes.
iii. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five. Open.
iv. If you would have done this, there is a great possibility that you collided with another person or perhaps a chair.
v. And that was just entering a room, not driving a car.
(Transition): The idea of safety and the question of maturity should cause politicians to reconsider the application of the Missouri text messaging law.
Conclusion:
I. Driving is a task to be taken seriously.
II. With drivers already distracted by attractive billboards, music, and passengers, the car is no place for a text message to be received or sent.
III. As drivers, we must consider the safety of our actions and place the good of others before our own interests.
IV. (Review) The Missouri General Assembly has tried to put the best interests of the people first; however, Missouri must follow in the steps of other states and place a universal ban on text messaging while driving.
V. If we truly believe this is a worthy cause – that is, to universally ban text messaging during driving – we must begin with our own actions.
VI. It very well could be that our behavior will inspire our friends to check and reconsider their behavior.
VII. Then, our friends’ friends will rethink texting while driving.
VIII. Through our own actions, we can influence the safety of Missouri roads.
IV. We can be the change we want to see, but ultimately a law such as the text messaging law should be applied to every driver of Missouri roads.
V. It is in the best interest of all Missourians to put the cell phone down while driving.
VI. Together, we can help make Missouri roads safer for all travelers.
Bibliography (Formatted in MLA Format)
Barth, Liza. “Despite risks, teens report texting while driving.” ConsumerReports.org, 18 November 2009. Web. 18 November 2009. <http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/11/despite-risks-teens-report-texting-while-driving.html>.
Ben, Larry. “Texting while Driving should be Banned in Florida.” Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer Blog, 22 November 2009. Web. 17 January 2010. < http://www.fort-lauderdale-injury-lawyer-blog.com/2009/11/lakeland-manny-mejia-had.html>.
Cohn, Smith, and Cohn. “Man Loses Both Legs to Accident Caused by Texting Driver.” South Florida Injury Attorney Blog, 11 November 2009. Web. 15 January 2010. < http://www.southfloridainjuryattorneyblog.com/2009/11/tampa_man_loses_both_legs_to_a.html>.