Texting ban makes its way through State government

11/16/2009
By Laura Podgornik
Staff Writer

On October 20, 2009, the Wisconsin state senate passed a bill that would ban all drivers, regardless of age, from text messaging while driving. 

Although a similar proposal has not yet been heard in committee in the State Assembly, State Representative of the 73rd Assembly Nick Milroy says he will vote against the proposal. 

Milroy was on the UW-Superior campus on Wednesday and was asked why he planned to vote against the proposal. 

“I don’t think it’s important to regulate these activities to that degree,” said Milroy. “We already have laws in place for inattentive driving. If an officer feels a driver is distracted, he can pull that individual over on that basis.”

Milroy isn’t the only politician against enforcing such regulations. State senator Neal Kedzie shares a similar sentiment.

“There’s a limit as to how many laws you need before we have laws on the books that are unenforceable,” said Kedzie during the senate meeting on October 20, according to an article by Scott Bauer at htrnews.com.  

Proponents of the bill feel that the bill will gain driver’s attention. 

“We all know that texting while driving is dangerous behavior, but if it’s illegal, most of us will change our behavior,” said Sen. Mark Miller during the October 20 meeting, quoted in the same article by Bauer. 

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million were injured in 2008 in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, including texting.