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Texting while driving, texting while walking, texting while biking-I must admit I've done it all, even though I know it's a dumb and dangerous thing to do. At this very moment, looking out of my office window, I will count four drivers texting, assessing e-mail, or browsing the internet on phones as their automobiles roll down 15th Street.

It does mean that it is more difficult to get folks stop doing it-even when they know it's dangerous.

Do countries prevent texting while driving when it accepted as the standard? As described in an earlier post, an increasing number of states have banned texting behind the wheel. New Jersey has one; Pennsylvania ban took effect in March. These laws are difficult to enforce and might not immediately result in behavior modification. Results from a survey published in Traffic Injury Prevention found small difference in rates of texting while driving between states and without legislation that prohibited the behavior. Twelve percent of drivers in states with bans reported texting while driving compared to 14 percent of drivers in nations without question.

For drivers ages 18-24, the gap was 45 percent vs. 48 percent. Making people more knowledgeable about the dangers would be another option. A survey of 348 drivers found that 92 percent reported reading, 81 percent reported replying, and 70 percent reported benefitting texts while driving. The respondents stated they believed that texting while driving was dangerous. When asked to rate how hazardous on a scale of 1 to 7 respondents reported an average of $5.28 for initiating a text when driving, 5.28 for replying, and 4.63 for reading. Knowledge of danger alone often is not sufficient to modify their behavior when social standards condone it.

Creating an appeal to stop texting while driving is yet another option. This method was effectively used a few decades ago by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Under the leadership of Candy Lightner, MADD's creator as well as the mother of a kid who was killed by a drunk driver, the organization morally condemned drunk driving-changing social norms around the behavior and alerting the passage of stricter drunk-driving laws throughout the United States. Just how can we change the culture around texting and driving, and finally get folks not to do it? For one, legislation can in fact shape social standards.

While texting bans might not be terribly effective in changing behavior today, they maintain promise to gradually stigmatize it on time. Legislation that have a moral component could be effective. Last month, for example, a committee in the New Jersey Legislature approved a measure that would add using a non-hands-free mobile phone when driving to the listing of behaviors that are considered "Reckless." If the measure passes, it would enable people who kill or injury someone when talking/texting and driving to be charged with homicide or vehicular assault-bring penalties more in line with those to get driving. Driving drunk and driving while texting are not the same thing. As people come to realize that both behaviors can cause death and injury to others-as well as to the drivers- social standards are most likely to change and behaviors are most likely to modify. I for one vow to forever alter my texting-while-driving practices.

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