Virginia 6th in the Nation for Texting and Driving

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Updated: 7:47 PM May 21, 2008 Virginia 6th in the Nation for Texting and Driving A new survey shows Virginia is sixth in the nation when it comes to drivers who send text messages while driving Posted: 12:35 PM May 21, 2008 Reporter: Mark Tenia Email Address: mark.tenia@wcav.tv

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May 21, 2008

A new survey shows Virginia is sixth in the nation when it comes to drivers who send text messages while driving.

The online survey of 4,820 people was commissioned by Vlingo, a
Cambridge, Mass. company that markets voice-recognition software it
says can be used as a substitute for texting.

According to the survey, more than a third of Virginia drivers admit to typing text messages on their cell phones while also trying to drive through traffic. It's a safety concern that's raising some obvious safety concerns.

"When you take your eye of the road, or even if you're eye is on the road, you're distracted and you're not going to be doing the searching skills, evaluating traffic conditions that we need to be doing to keep ourselves out of trouble," said Richard Wharam, an Albemarle County Schools Driver's Education Coordinator.

The commonwealth has already passed a law banning cell phone use by minors while driving. This year a bill that would have banned text messaging while driving in the commonwealth was delayed until next year, a bill some believe should pass.

"I firmly believe that, yes, there should be no use of cell phones period by any age," said Wharam.

And with these new survey findings, it's an issue that will likely be addressed in the General Assembly's next session.

"We're finding more and more inattentive drivers and it's creating a lot of problems on the road. We see it with people using their cell phones, now we find out this information about texting, I think you're going to see more initiative in the General Assembly to try and cut down on that type of behavior," said Delegate David Toscano, D-57th District.

Nationally, 28 percent of those surveyed confessed to "driving
while texting."

The survey found the worst offenders in South Carolina, where 40
percent say they text and drive. The least offensive were in
Arizona.

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