Verizon Wireless Backs Driving While Texting Ban

Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless is taking an aggressive stance when it concerns the use of texting-and-driving. Just say no.

 

The company plans to work with state legislators nationwide to support an outright ban on texting-messing and driving, according to the New York Times. That stance mirrors the one maintained by the CTIA (News - Alert), the wireless-phone industry trade group.

 

Verizon Wireless is hoping its support will lead to safer road conditions for drivers. A number of studies have shown that cell phones and other mobile devices create distractions for drivers, leading to serious accidents, or even fatalities. Several states have adopted, or are now considering laws to ban texting while driving.

 

“Why? For the same reason we supported bans on using handheld phones,” Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel for Verizon Wireless, told the New York Times. “Because if you have one hand on the wheel and one on the device, it’s less safe.”

 

Verizon Wireless supported a similar measure in California, which requires drivers to use hands-free devices, and also bans texting while driving. That law took effect on Jan. 1.

 

In some cases, text-messaging while driving has led to fatal accidents. Federal authorities said text-messaging likely played a role in the tragic accident in Los Angeles last fall in which a commuter train collided with a Union Pacific freighter, killing 25 people. The National Transportation Safety Board said a Metrolink engineer driving the commuter train sent a text message about 22 seconds before the crash. The engineer, Robert Sanchez, was among those who died in the Sept. 12 accident in a northwest Los Angeles suburb.

 

Yet some young drivers are ignoring cell phone laws. A 2008 study found that cell phone use among teens while driving increased in North Carolina, despite a statewide ban, which took effect Dec. 1, 2006.

 

While Verizon Wireless still sells hands-free devices for cell phones, the company isn’t changing its position on the use of cell phones while driving. It recommends that drivers turn off their phones and allow calls to go to voicemail while operating a motor vehicle.

 

Speech to text applications that integrate with mobile IM platforms could be one possible solution. The “hand-free” and “eye-free” technology lets users listen to text messages, multimedia messages, and emails. Vlingo Corp. is a good example. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based mobile voice application maker’s launched its latest version of its mobile speech application. Version 3.0 brings an enhanced text-to-speech read-back feature for hands-free confirmation of what was said and the chance for users to speak action requests, such as “send.”