Text messaging while operating a motorized vehicle is considered an unsafe act. The North Carolina House of Representatives made it clear on April 16 with a 104 - 5 vote that text messaging while driving should be banned. Drivers who take their eyes off the road to send a text message or e-mail are more at risk of being in a car accident than people who do not text while driving. “I personal don’t find anything wrong with someone text messaging but on the other hand driving while texting that’s a different story,” said junior Amanda Walker.

If the proposed becomes a law, anyone caught violating the ban will be fined $100 plus court expenses. The bill has likely to fare in the Senate to be proposed on Thursday with a not so surprise that it would be a vote of 34 – 0. Text messaging has increased in popularity; more than 158 billion text messages were sent in the USA in 2006 according to CTIA-The Wireless Association. People put themselves at risk when they try to drive and text at the same time in heavy traffic. A Harvard Center for Risk Analysis reported that 2,600 people are killed each year from driver distraction incidents stemming from cell phone use. A lot of fatal car accidents have been continued to texting, due to someone text messaging on their phone or being distracted by something else.  A man was typing a text message when he lost control of the SUV and fatally hit a 13 year old boy riding a bicycle. It appears the man was so distracted that he did not even realize what happened until later that night.  

The bill was passed last week North Carolina will soon be among the other states that have banned text messaging while driving; including California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Arkansas, Utah, Virginia, Alaska, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington. Young drivers are at the top of the list of a study by Nationwide Insurance which suggests DWT is generational, with 37 percent of people age 18 to 27 saying they text while driving, while just 14 percent of those ages 28 to 44 and two percent of drivers ages 45 to 60 admitted to it.

Another car accident due to texting involved a man who was text messaging while operating a train. He failed to stop and collided into another train on the track killing 25 including himself.