By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Texting and driving seems to be a growing trend and a growing danger on the roadway.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is warning drivers about the dangers with Sergeant Shane Hux of Troop H in northwest Missouri pointing out it is much more dangerous than most people think.
“So, a lot of people, what they don’t realize (is) the average text takes 4.6 seconds. And during that amount of time, if you’re driving 55 miles an hour, you will travel over the length of a football field,” Hux tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Some of these two-lane highways around here, they’re not very good roads, a lot of curves, a lot of hills, blind spots. So, that’s a lot of time with your eyes off the road.”
Hux says it is difficult for troopers to determine whether a driver is texting, because the phone can be used for other purposes, such as navigation. It is even more difficult to prove texting caused an accident.
“Tell you the truth, it’s kind of a hard case for us to make,” according to Hux. “If we do work a crash and we ask the driver for their statement, most of the time, they’re not going to tell us they were on their cell phone.”
Just because a driver reaches for the cell phone doesn’t mean the driver is texting.
“You don’t know if they’re just moving it from one place to the other or if they’re actually using it,” Hux says. “It’s not against the law just to have it in your hand.”
But, as Hux points out it is very difficult to text and drive.
“It is. Driving is a full-time job. It takes 100% of your attention.”
Missouri law doesn’t prohibit texting and driving, with two exceptions. Drivers under the age of 21 cannot text and drive and drivers operating commercial vehicles cannot text and drive.