If you want to understand a problem, talk to an expert. When the problem is texting while driving, the experts are in high school.

“Texting is an addiction,” South Portland High School student Hunter Blondin told a panel of lawmakers, transportation officials and others at the Ocean Gateway in Portland this week. “I know people who go to bed with their cell phone and wake up with their cell phone.”

He’s right. The compulsive need for constantly up-to-date information is an addiction, and like addictions to drugs, alcohol or overeating, it drives people to make choices against their own self-interest. When they are behind the wheel of a car or truck, it’s not only their health that is at risk.

While this dangerous behavior has become a fact of life for a generation of young drivers, the legal system has been slow to react.

The Legislature passed a law that punishes the whole spectrum of distracted driving, from putting on makeup to reading a book, but it is only a penalty tacked on after a lack of attention causes a moving violation or a wreck. Too often, that’s too late to save a life.

Sen. Bill Diamond has a bill that would make texting while driving an offense all by itself. This is a law that is long overdue.

If passed, anyone typing a text message while driving could be pulled over and fined. Enforcement would not be complicated: You can’t type a message without looking at your device, and that should be easy to spot.

Driver taking their eyes off the road is also what makes this activity so dangerous. With a vehicle at highway speed traveling the length of two football fields in five seconds, even momentary inattention could be deadly.

If people are addicted to electronic text messaging, we can’t rely on appealing to their good judgment. It will take passing a law and vigorous enforcement to convince them to kick this dangerous habit.

 

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