I still cannot contain my anger about an accident that occurred in Utah three years ago.  It seems that after exchanging eleven text messages with his girlfriend, a young driver drifted across the yellow dividing line of a two-lane road into oncoming traffic. He caused an accident that killed two people on their way to work. My heart aches for those people and their families who I am sure are still grieving three years later.

The accident made the news a week ago because, according to the newspaper article I was reading, Utah has passed a law that punishes a fatality caused by a texting driver as harshly as one caused by a drunk driver.   

But what about the other states?  Fortunately, many of them are considering similar laws.

I am the last person to oppose electronic progress.  I love my Blackberry.  I understand the convenience of texting—no need to waste time saying “Hi, How are you?” on a phone call.  It’s easier to text “Be 5 min. late.”   

Last Monday while biking  home from work, I was stopped at a red light..  I tried to catch the eye of the woman in the car next to me to be sure she wouldn’t cut me off by turning right in front of me.  She was completely involved in texting—not looking up once.  True, she was stopped at a red light, but I didn’t want to depend on her seeing me.

Instead of going when the light turned green, I waited until she was completely past the intersection.

I did not want to be a texting statistic.