For those of us driving in California, the golden land of tailgaters and rear-view middle fingers, texting while scampering down the roadways has been a no-no since Baby New Year started crawling on all fours earlier this year. Now, if Democratic lawmakers have their way, no one across this great nation of ours will be able to hammer out “LOL, like i knowz, right!” on their mobile devices while driving.

An interesting detail in the proposal is that it would still be legal for motorist to send text messages so long as the vehicle is stopped. Once foot meets gas pedal, however, any SMS activity would be illegal. This is an intriguing point. One could easily conceive a situation where the driver is head-down with the mobile device, unaware that the light has turned green. Would these motorist then throw down their device, slamming on the gas in order to make a light that otherwise would have been simple to go through? If fumbling with mobile devices increases the risk of crashes by 23%, as reported this week by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, why not go all-out as California has and force drivers to have their hands where they belong at all times. On the wheel.

[Via: AFP; IntoMobile]

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