Driving, Texting and Talking in North Carolina

Driving, texting and talking has been all over the news lately. South Carolina is following in the footsteps of  many states and started the legislative process to ban texting while driving. The City of Clemson recently became the first city in South Carolina to ban texting while driving. Oprah recently had a popular episode on the subject and asked her employees to sign a pledge stating that they would not use cellular phones while driving. Federal employees driving government provided cars are also banned from texting after President Obama signed an executive order in October.

Yesterday the Charlottte Observer reported that North Carolina may try and take the current texting restriction a step further by outlawing the use of cell phones in cars unless the driver uses a hands free device. California has already taken that route- drive down the congested roads of Southern California and you will see a maze of Bluetooth headsets. Charlotte residents appear to support such a law- the Charlotte Observer article cited a WCNC-TV poll that found 47 percent of poll respondents favored a complete ban on cell phone use while 40 percent favored approval of hands free devices only.

Research studies and statistics clearly depict the the dangers of cell phone use. Look for more restrictive laws in the future.