EDITORIAL: S.C. needs ban on texting while driving

At least three bills will be introduced in the legislature next year to ban texting while driving in South Carolina. We support the effort to make roads and highways safer and encourage legislators to find the right solution to this pressing dilemma.

Whether the answer involves a fine or mandatory jail time, South Carolina should follow the lead of 14 other states and the District of Columbia in cracking down on the practice. It will not be easy.

Law enforcement officials have told us texting while driving has surpassed drunken driving as the biggest safety issue they face routinely.

We do not take their cautionary words lightly.

A new texting law went into effect in North Carolina on Dec. 1 after lawmakers in the Tar Heel State heard statistics about the likelihood of crashing while texting.

A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found truckers who text while driving are 23 times more likely to crash or get into a near-wreck. The average distracted driver was looking away nearly five seconds. At 55 mph, that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field.

So how do lawmakers craft legislation that will have an impact? The laws obviously have to be tougher than in North Carolina, which calls for a $100 fine and court costs on a first offense.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that usage of cell phones for calls and texting in North Carolina was up slightly after the state banned them for drivers younger than the age of 18, Reuters reported.

Obviously, teenagers are not listening, or they do not care about the ban. Their generation has grown up on cell phones and portable devices. More than 1 trillion text messages have been sent in 2009.

And even if South Carolina adopts a ban, how do officers enforce it? It’s easy to see a cell phone next to a driver’s ear in places where a hand-held cell phone has been banned. But it’s more difficult to catch someone in the act of texting.

Does the state want to go through the expense of subpoenaing cell phone records every time it goes to court over a texting ticket? We think not.

The three bills being floated in Columbia have been proposed by Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson; Rep. Don Bowen, R-Anderson; and Rep. James Smith, D-Richland.

Bryant’s proposal would make it a secondary offense, meaning law enforcement could not stop drivers for texting. It would include a $25 fine.

Bowen’s idea calls for a 60-day jail term, $2,500 fine and suspending the driver’s license for a year. A police officer also would be able to take the driver’s cell phone to prove texting before the offense.

Smith has filed a bill to allow officers to stop drivers who are texting. It calls for a $250 fine and one-month suspension of a driver’s license.

In a September editorial on texting, we suggested a penalty tougher than North Carolina’s law. The penalty has to be a blend of Bowen’s and Smith’s bills to work. A $25 penalty will be ignored more than a 55 mph speed limit.

A $175 fine, court costs and one-month suspension from driving would be effective for a first offense.

We suggest allowing law enforcement to confiscate the phone or portable device on a second offense, making it easier to prove texting in court, and including language for mandatory jail time for repeat offenders.

There’s an argument for Bowen’s bill, which he based on state DUI laws. If texting is causing a public safety issue on par with DUI, perhaps it should be treated like an alcohol-related issue.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor).