Could texting while driving ban be enforced in Georgia?

Members of a Georgia House committee considering two bills to outlaw texting while driving raised repeated questions during debate about whether it could even be enforced.

According to Morris News Service, the two bills would impose a fine and add points to a driver's record. Similar laws have been enacted in a growing number of states as handheld electronic devices have become more common.

John Cabrer, who grew up in Senoia but now lives in Fullerton, Calif., said his state passed a no-texting law that went into effect this month. Cabrer has some concerns about what that might mean for his privacy.


"What should be illegal is for law enforcement or anybody else to go into your account records, and find out if you were texting right before you ran over that highway patrolman and construction worker," Cabrer said.

"I mean, does it really matter why you did it?"

He suggested that since the laws are difficult to enforce, there might be a technological solution.

"All phones are GPS aware," he said. Theoretically, said Cabrer, there should be a way to "calculate speed, and disable texting when the threshold is exceeded."

A poster at The Times-Herald Web site agreed that enforcement of anti-texting laws could become "a privacy issue."

"The only way the law can be enforced is for a citizen to be forced to surrender their personal private cell phone to a police officer who will then have access to their call logs and contact information to decide if they have in fact been texting while driving," said the poster. "This is information a judge normally has to issue a search warrant for when cause has been shown. Now individual officers will be able to demand to look into your phone. Why not just enforce reckless driving laws already on the books?"

But other posters to The Times-Herald Web site are more supportive.

"My son was hit head on by a driver on his phone," said one poster. "This driver was in his late 50's that struck my son. Yes, it totaled out my car. My son is in the hospital. He has had four operations so far, more to follow... in the spur of a moment, you never know what's going to happen."

According to the Morris News Service, nearly everyone who spoke in favor of the prohibition at the Georgia Capitol this week admitted to texting themselves while behind the wheel.

"I will have to tell you I am an expert at texting while driving," said one of the authors, Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon.

Even though enforcement may be difficult, Peake said, enacting a law will serve as a deterrent and save lives.


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