Texting ban starts Tuesday, but enforcement will be difficult

Come Tuesday, texting and driving is forbidden and anyone under 18 better stay off the phone entirely while they’re behind the wheel.

Otherwise, they could be fined $50 under a law that takes effect Dec. 1.

The law signed by the governor in June is intended to make the roads safer by removing two of the biggest distractions that lead to mishaps: sending text messages and, for those 17 and younger, chattering away.

But enforcing the law may not be as easy as outlawing texting and chatting.

In states with cell phone bans, officers can easily tell if the law is being broken by spotting someone talking. In Colorado, it won’t be so simple, said Colorado Springs police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock.

First, officers who see someone talking on the phone would have to determine if the driver is 17 or 18 years old. Even if an older driver takes their eyes off the road to look at their phone, it isn’t proof they’re texting; they could be looking at the GPS.

“It creates a very large conundrum for our officers,” Whitlock said. “It’s difficult to know if an individual is definitely texting.”

With all of the other traffic problems that police contend with, it will make it even more difficult to enforce, he said.

“Frankly this is not something that would be high on our priorities for traffic enforcement,” Whitlock said.
Studies show the bans aren’t effective if there’s little or no enforcement.

In a study released in October, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers in New York and Connecticut complied with bans at first, but went back to using cell phones. In Washington, D.C., where the ban is strictly enforced, cell phone use by drivers has not crept back up.

Matt Theobald, owner of Academy School of Driving in Colorado Springs, said enforcement would be tough even in places where hand-held phones are banned.

“In California, they have a law where you can’t use a cell phone and they have a hard time enforcing that because people flat-out don’t obey the law,” he said. “Our police force is stretched thin as it is and it’s tough when you throw this on top of it.”

Theobald said he tries to impress on his students how dangerous it is to text and drive by showing them a taped interview with a driver who admitted causing a fatal wreck while texting.

The students know how mad he’ll be if he spots any of them texting while driving.

“They know that if I catch them doing it, they’re dead meat,” he said.

—
Call the writer at 636-0274.