User:Trovb5/Sandbox

There is a great debate over who actually sent the first text message. According to one article, the first text message was sent on Dec 3, 1992 in the United Kingdom.^[1]

TEXTING WHILE DRIVING

Overview Texting while driving is the act of composing, sending or reading text on a mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle (Wikipedia, texting while driving). Although talking on a mobile phone while operating a vehicle is considered dangerous, the threat really became an issue when Short Message Service, or texting, was introduced ^[2]. Texting has become a social norm fairly quickly since the year 2000, as most cell phone plans include a text messaging package. There has been a significant rise in smart phone sales with the popularity of the BlackBerry and I phone, which allows people to communicate while they are doing practically anything. It cannot be contested that text messaging and other forms of text communication on mobile phones offer a level of convenience that cannot be matched. The dilemma is at what point do we chose safety over convenience^[3]. Many studies have linked texting while driving to the cause of life-threatening accidents due to driver distraction. The International Telecommunication Union states that “texting, making calls, and other interaction with in-vehicle information and communication systems while driving is a serious source of driver distraction and increases the risk of traffic accidents”^[4].

Notable Crashes (Focusing Events) There are numerous studies that link texting to driver distraction causing deadly crashes. However, the majority of studies have focused on teenagers and the younger population.

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Laws Laws making it illegal to not only operate a mobile phone for voice calls while driving, but also texting, are becoming increasingly widespread. Only “eight states (Calif,. Conn., Del., Md., N.J., N.Y., and Wash.) D.C. and the Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving”^[5]. Due to the statistics of teen drivers being more likely to text and drive and be involved in deadly crashes due to driver distraction, some states have tougher laws for new, or “novice” drivers. Although there is a discrepancy over what age is the cutoff for a “novice” driver, the majority of states define “novice” as a driver who is 18 or younger. North Carolina is one of 28 states that ban “novice” drivers from operating a mobile phone while driving a vehicle^[6].

North Carolina made their anti-texting and driving law effective on December 1, 2009, making it unlawful “to operate a vehicle on a public street, highway, or public vehicular area while using a mobile telephone to manually enter multiple letters or text in the device as a means of communicating with another person”^[7].

“This law also includes reading email or text messages while driving, but does not apply if the vehicle is lawfully parked or stopped”^[8].

However, the law excludes GPS devices and other wireless communication devices, such as Itouches or Ipads.

History