I have much admiration for the work on behalf of Target Zero by Tina Meyer, mother of distracted driving fatality victim Cody Meyer (“Arlington mom of distracted driving victim works to keep other safe”) in the March 12 Herald.
I can tell you from the perspective of a 21-plus-year commercial vehicle operator, this lethal practice is far too commonplace. I can easily see into the passenger compartment of most vehicles, and it’s happening everywhere, all the time, in all kinds of traffic. I even once saw someone texting on I-5 with a child seat in the back and a “Baby On Board!” sticker in the back window.
Part of the problem is that there isn’t enough money in it to make it worthwhile for law enforcement. Unless and until the penalty is at least equal to what a commercial driver would pay for a distracted driving conviction — $1,500 to the driver, and $11,000 to the company the driver works for — there’s simply not enough incentive for law enforcement to make distracted driving the same priority as DUIs.
As the families of anyone who’s been killed by a distracted driver will tell you, there is precisely no difference between dying from someone who’s schnockered to the limit behind the wheel, and someone who was texting a bunch of innocuous LOLs and OMGs to their BFF. Distracted driving needs to be a gross misdemeanor at minimum, and the penalty needs to be at least 10 times what it is now, wireless company lobbyists be damned. I would also suggest license suspensions for multiple violations. Half-measures will avail us nothing but more carnage, loss and heartbreak.
Andy Dockhorn
Everett
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