By Erick Dick
<[email protected]>

Junior Clayton Morrison said he is familiar with the texting while driving law of 2009 and is aware that it is illegal to text while driving, but he said he does it anyway. Morrison, who has had his license for a year, said a lack of enforcement of the law keeps him from stopping the habit.

As far as getting away with the practice, Morrison may be correct. Since legislators passed the Indiana Teenage Distracted Law in 2009, Indiana police have issued only three tickets to motorists, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a scientific organization dedicated to reducing the deaths, injuries and property damage from crashes.

Phil Hobson, school resource officer, said most of the ineffectiveness comes from the inability of police to witness the crime.

“The kids might not own up to texting while driving,” he said. “More accidents are caused each year by distracted or texting drivers than are reported.”

Shane VanNatter, Carmel police officer, said another challenge is guessing the driver’s age while they are actually driving.

“It’s hard to tell how old they are,” VanNatter said. “You don’t have good justification to pull them over since it’s just an assumption.”

Regarding VanNatter’s point, on Jan. 27 the House Public Policy Committee passed a text-messaging ban for all drivers, regardless of age. However, it has not yet become an official law.

In other states where this ban has become a law, the numbers of citations are higher. In Washington, for example, police have issued 670 citations between June 10 and July 1.

VanNatter said passage of that law here would make it much easier for officers because they would not have to estimate the driver’s age.

Hobson said despite the difficulty of enforcing the law, Carmel officers will always be looking for those who disregard it, because of safety reasons. He said there is no reason why someone’s life should be at risk from another driver sending or receiving a text.

“I know who the students are at Carmel because I work here,” VanNatter said. “If I see you driving and texting, I will give you a ticket.”

Morrison said he believes the proposed law, to restrict texting for all drivers regardless of age would be fair but it would be just as ineffective as the 2009 law.

“It’s still going to be just as hard to enforce,” Morrison said. “Even if they do pass it, I’m still going to text while driving until I get caught.”