Roads could be safer with a ban on texting while driving

[Commentary] The urge to text while driving apparently strikes widely, affecting everyone from excessively social teens to BlackBerry-obsessed business people to the District's multitasking mayor. Wherever it hits, it can be dangerous. According to a study by Car and Driver magazine, reaction time while texting is often twice as long as while legally intoxicated. Still, only 17 states and the District have passed legislation to discourage the risky behavior -- and a couple of those states have banned texting only for drivers under 21 years old. The most straightforward solution would be to use federal highway funds to encourage states to adopt bans on texting while driving, modeled on the seatbelt law. Though the ban might not be consistently enforceable, it would help people understand the gravity of being distracted while driving and would help make the unsafe practice socially taboo.