Years in the making

The small victory of the texting-and-driving ban

It was a nice moment, an effective photo op, actually. Gov. Mary Fallin, obviously moved, hugging those whose loved ones were killed or injured due to texting and driving.

“Don’t text and drive in the state of Oklahoma,” she said. “We need to have a change in attitude in our state when it comes to texting or being distracted while you’re driving down the highway. It’s very dangerous.”

And with that, our governor signed a bill that would make it illegal to operate a motor vehicle while using a handheld device to compose, send or read electronic messages. The fine is $100, which is $30 more—believe it or not—than the penalty one is assessed for transporting a loaded weapon in a speeding car without a valid handgun license, but let’s not quibble—it’s Oklahoma. It also would have been nice had the bill contained some provision about using a handheld device to, you know, actually call someone (unless being used hands-free), but, again, this is no time to get greedy. Good on Fallin for advocating for public safety. No small achievement for someone who, along with most the state’s GOP, believes government is usually a voracious pterosaur.  

So, okay, the legislation might not work:

The Highway Data Loss Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that in 3 of 4 states that enacted texting bans, accidents actually increased after the ban went into effect.

And why is that?

The argument goes like this: People are so addicted to their phones that a ban won’t stop most people from texting while driving. Instead they’ll put the phones deeper in their laps to avoid detection and the result will be an increase in accidents.

For the love of Guglielmo Marconi.

Still, this is better than nothing. If even one less mother has to do a PSA while showing her dead daughter’s cracked cell phone and last text, it’s worth it. People mocked seatbelt laws, too, and now—with the exception of those conspiracists who believe government drones are flying over the old Walmart at Admiral and Memorial in preparation for martial law—nearly everyone who gets behind the wheel wears one.

The maddening thing about this texting ban (on second thought, it’s Oklahoma; before this legislation, only those with learner’s permits were prohibited), which is law in almost every state, is that it took so long to pass here. For years and for reasons that defy understanding, it and similar bills were rejected by the state’s GOP.

This from a December 2, 2013 editorial in The Oklahoman.

“For years, Republican leadership at the Legislature has quashed efforts to ban texting at the wheel — despite the fact that there’s no organized opposition to the idea.”

Lovely. Rebels without a constituency.

Rep. Josh Cockroft, R-Tecumseh, who moved to table McDaniel’s amendment … [said,] “In my discussions with law enforcement across the state and across my district, many of them feel like it would be very, very difficult to enforce.”

(Take note, young writers: Always add an extra very when citing your faux research. It adds so much to your credibility.)

Not for nothing, catching motorists who drive under the influence is also “very, very difficult to enforce,” but we as a society decided it would still be worthwhile to pass laws that frown upon it.

Bill foe Sen. Steve Russell said parents should make the decisions about what their children do.

Oh, there’s a good idea. Some kids can text and drive, some can’t. What could possibly go wrong there? And while we’re at it, why not allow parents to make the decision on whether their unvaccinated, Rubella-infected, sneezing 7-year-old gets to attend school and sit next to your son or daughter, too? (Oh, bad example.)

Then there was the astonishing and insulting, yet unsurprising callousness of Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, who sees in such legislation the end of the republic and proof that Hitler lives.

State Rep. Mike Ritze said the 2014 texting & driving legislation resembles a product of “a Nazi state,” the AP reported in February.

Attaboy, Mike. Nothing like comparing the murder of millions by the Nazis with asking a 17-year-old to wait till he gets out of the car before texting his friends some monumental inanity.

Let’s continue.

It took seven years to get a ban on texting and driving in this state—seven years! Alabama and Utah had it before us!

And this was the easy stuff.

In Oklahoma, we embrace antiquated laws that only require those under 18 to wear helmets on motorcycles, even though 19-year-old brains are not appreciably better at handling impact on concrete; we enact new laws that allow oil and gas companies the right to tell localities to go to hell if they want to frack, even though there’s pretty good evidence fracking and injection wells cause earthquakes and disease and make your tap water taste like Febreze. We refuse to change laws that allow merchants to sell unlimited numbers of guns at gun shows without keeping record of who’s buying—even though guns, like texting and driving, have been known to do a fair amount of damage (we’re also on the verge of signing the most insane piece of gun legislation since... the previous one). And we hide behind laws that allow us to refuse healthcare funds from the federal government, even though expanding Medicaid (at no initial expense to Oklahoma taxpayers) would make living not so “dangerous” for the state’s uninsured poor. 

But texting and driving will now cost you a C-note, so there’s that.

The governor is right, though. When it comes to health and safety and the common good, we do need to have a “change in attitude” in Oklahoma—on the hard stuff.

Just don’t hold your breath waiting for the next photo op. 

For more from Barry, check out his thoughts on the Tulsa County Sherriff's Department fiasco, the Christan right, or visit our Friedman archive