Texting a Crime?

Yesterday North Carolina Governor Beverly Purdue signed into law a ban on drivers sending text messages or emails while driving. Now, don’t get me wrong – I think that texting while driving is a stupid thing to do, but do we really want to make it a criminal offense? If no one else’s life or property is encroached upon, why should I be branded as a criminal simply because I sent a text message? If my texting were to cause an accident where I injured another, then some kind of reparation should be made, but there is nothing inherently criminal about sending a text message. Why not let insurance companies impose a stiff penalty for drivers who cause accidents while texting? Wouldn’t that do just as much – if not more – to discourage the practice than making it illegal? How often do you hear people say that they don’t want to get caught speeding because they don’t want their insurance rate to go up? The one-time fine for speeding isn’t nearly as much of a deterrent as the prospect of paying higher insurance rates over a period of months or years.

What about other practices that distract drivers – like lighting up a cigarette, or eating, or turning on the radio? Should those be crimes, too? What about noisy, cranky kids fighting in the back seat? Should we ban children from riding in cars? Where does it all end? And just how is this ban going to be enforced? Is the government going to install surveillance cameras in our cars to make sure we’re not texting? Or maybe they’re going to monitor everyone’s cell phones. Just think of the bureaucratic mess and expense that would be! Not to mention the downright wrongness of such an intrusion of our privacy, although I wouldn’t put it past them.

I know that the intentions of the people supporting this ban are good, but I don’t think they have really thought through the ramifications of such a law. And so we are slowly but surely losing our liberty.