Ban texting while driving

South Dakota's neighbors have gotten the message. Now Citizens for Cell Phone Safety While Driving are taking that same message to the Sioux Falls City Council. It's a message that the South Dakota Legislature has ignored. Since the State won't take the lead, it's up to Sioux Falls to do what's right. Ban texting while driving. Citizens for Cell Phone Safety While Driving are presenting a proposal to the City Council's Public Services Committee calling for a ban on all texting while driving within the city's limits. Further, the measure would ban the use of any handheld device while driving in a school zone while children are present, with exceptions for law enforcement, fire rescue and emergency personnel. This measure has the backing of 16 area corporations and institutions, including Avera McKennan, Sanford Health, Augustana College, Vern Eide Motorcars, AAA South Dakota, and South Dakota Voices for Children. And since the State is balking at putting a halt to this dangerous practice, Sioux Falls can take the lead in promoting safety. For the last two years the South Dakota Legislature has rejected a statewide ban on texting while driving. In 2011, House Speaker Val Rausch thought lawmakers could write a better bill to encompass other forms of distracted driving. Further, some argue that this measure would be difficult to enforce. Does that make it no less the right thing to do? Studies show drivers who text are 23 times more likely to be in an accident. And young drivers are at much greater risk. Some 21 percent of fatal car accidents involving drivers 16 to 19 involved some type of cell phone usage. That makes this more a question of “when” it will happen than “if.” Reading a text message while driving has been at the center of at least one accidental death trial in South Dakota. And in Idaho in January, 18-year-old Taylor Sauer was texting a friend via Facebook when her car crashed into a tanker truck at 80 miles per hour, killing her instantly. Ironically, phone records indicated she had been texting about the dangers of texting and driving. They further showed she had been posting to Facebook about once every 90 seconds. Here's some statistics from the law firm Edgar Snyder & Associates: About 6,000 deaths and a half a million injuries are caused by distracted drivers every year... While teenagers are texting, they spend about 10 percent of the time outside the driving lane they’re supposed to be in... Talking on a cell phone while driving can make a young driver’s reaction time as slow as that of a 70-year-old... Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. That is enough time to travel the length of a football field... Talking on a cell phone causes nearly 25% of car accidents... One-fifth of experienced adult drivers in the United States send text messages while driving. The statistics go on and on, and they spell out the problem in black and white. Thirty-seven states ban texting while driving, including North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming. Take a look around. That leaves us virtually alone. Even dozens of cities have banned the practice, and the federal government has prohibited texting while driving and all handheld cell phone use for commercial truck and bus drivers. The Argus Leader today supported the local group in its effort to stop texting while driving in Sioux Falls. "We've heard the arguments against it and yes, it probably is hard to enforce," the editorial states. "But you have to start somewhere, and specifically outlawing texting and driving sends an important message." And as the editorial points out, a new law making such practice illegal will prompt some to avoid the texting-driving mix. It may take a while to catch on, but it's a start. Then the State needs to the follow the lead of its largest city and not delay in following suit.