Laws Against Distracted Driving

Wisconsin doesn’t do enough to prevent distracted driving. Many people believe that “it won’t happen to me, that happens to other people.” Accidents due to distracted driving could happen to anyone. “In 2013, 3,154 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involv­ing distracted drivers. ("Facts and Statistics." Distracted Driving : Facts And Statistics.)” Even if you’re not driving distracted, you can still be affected by those that do. About 424,000 people were injured due to distracted drivers in 2012. Distracted drivers can affect anyone, even you. “The texting ban prohibits only writing or sending messages, not receiving or reading them. (Stim, Rich. "Wisconsin Text Messaging and Cell Phone Laws. DrivingLaws.org." Drivinglaws.org)” The laws against distracted driving should include receiving and reading messages. Some say Wisconsin has enough laws and punishments for distracted driving, especially texting and driving. However, the law is written in a way that it’s difficult for officers to enforce it. “Wisconsin state law now forbids driving "any motor vehicle while composing or sending an electronic text message or an electronic mail message." Wisconsin's texting ban is a primary enforcement law, which means law enforcement officers may stop motorists suspected of this offense alone ("Wisconsin Department of Transportation …show more content…
2014).” 11 in five years. However, the department has issued over 1,300 inattentive driving tickets. Inattentive driving tickets can be issued for other things besides texting and driving. A distracted driving ticket costs $187.90 and four points are taken off of the offender’s license. Either the cost of these tickets should be raised to $250 to try and discourage people from distracted driving or the law should be worded so officers can give more texting and driving tickets to