There’s been a lot of talk lately about the dangers of distracted driving, most notably the disturbing trend in accidents caused by text messaging behind the wheel.  Legislation is being passed to make the penalty for texting while driving steeper, but one Arizona highway safety official doubts that the stricter laws will provide a real solution to the problem.

“Texting and driving is a horrendous practice,” said Alberto Gutier, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “But we also need to look at the whole issue. It’s not text messaging only; it’s all distracted driving.”

Gutier said that the city of Phoenix has only issued a handful of tickets since issuing a citywide ban on texting while driving in 2007.  “I’ll support anything that saves lives, but it’s almost impossible to enforce and even less easy to prove,” he said.

The Arizona state legislate rejected a bill earlier this year that would have fined drivers 50 dollars for texting or talking on a mobile phone without the use of a hands-free device.  If involved in an accident, the fine would rise to 200 dollars.

“People do dumb things while driving,” Gutier told Cronkite News Service. “A national, local and state media campaign on the dangers of texting or using the phone is as important as a law on the books.”

Make sure that your drivers know the dangers of texting and driving, and promote the use of hands-free devices while talking on a cell phone.

We’ve talked about the dangers of driver distraction before, but here’s a little reminder to be extra careful on the road.

Tow truck driver Nicholas Sparks found himself in trouble last week when he crashed into a car, careened out of control through a fence and the house behind it before finally ending up with his truck in a swimming pool.  The cause of the accident?  Sparks was not only text messaging on a cell phone, but was talking on a second phone.

According to The Buffalo News, Sparks failed to notice a car that had stopped to make a turn and ran into it with his truck, which was towing two vehicles with motorcycles on the bed.  The occupants of the car, 68-year-old Lily White and her 8-year old great-niece Kiara McDowell both sustained injuries in the crash: White hit her head, while the young girl suffered wrist injuries.  Sparks admitted to being distracted by his two phones when he hit the car.

After colliding with the car, Sparks’ truck flew through a nearby yard and grazed a house, with one of the vehicles in tow colliding with the house.  The truck then broke through a privacy fence and came to rest in the home’s backyard swimming pool.

An investigation is currently underway to confirm the charges of reckless driving, talking on a cellular phone, and following too closely.  Investigators will examine Sparks’ phone records to make sure he was indeed talking on the phone at the time of the incident.

Photo courtesy of jack dorsey under the Creative Commons License.