At least 19 states have banned it. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have tried to prohibit it. But none of that is enough for Ellyn Bogdanoff.
The Republican representative, who leads a state House committee, has dismissed a proposal to ban texting while driving as "intellectually dishonest," explaining that text messages are hardly the only distraction competing for drivers' attention. Although the measure sailed through the Senate, the effort remains stubbornly lodged in Bogdanoff's panel.
Now, with the legislative session drawing to a close, the measure seems likely to fade into memory. Never mind the fact that more than a dozen bills on the topic were offered during this session, or that Gov. Charlie Crist was poised to sign a texting ban.
In Tallahassee, the story may have ended for now. Outside the Capitol, though, text messaging in the driver's seat can be a life-or-death issue.
"Out of control"
There was no bigger Disney fan than Heather Hurd.
In 2006, she became an intern at Walt Disney World, and she loved it so much that she planned a Disney-themed wedding. On Jan. 3, 2008, she and her fiance were on their way to meet a wedding planner when a tractor trailer crushed their car.
The tractor trailer's driver had been reaching for a device to send a text message. Hurd was killed, and her fiance suffered serious injuries.
Since that day, Hurd's father, Russell, has worked to ban text messaging while driving in multiple states. Last year, he testified before a state Senate committee in Maryland, his home state.
Because of texting while driving, I will never dance the father-daughter dance at her wedding," he told panel members.
Maryland lawmakers heeded Hurd's warnings, and in late 2009, texting while driving became illegal.
Thanks to Bogdanoff's efforts, though, that isn't the case in Florida.
"What happened in Florida is just appalling to me," said Jennifer Smith, the president of an advocacy group called FocusDriven. Launched in January, the organization aims to ban all cell phone use by drivers.
Smith, whose mother was killed after a driver on a cell phone hit her car, emphasized that texting and driving can turn into an assault on a driver's abilities. It requires physical attention to type, visual attention to look at the screen, and cognitive attention to focus on the message.
"We do need the texting laws, or it's going to spiral out of control," Smith said.
By the numbers
Because there is no law requiring them, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has no statistics on texting while driving, but research about the topic exists.
Last year, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released findings from the first major study on text messaging behind the wheel. The project, which used video cameras to track drivers of long-haul trucks for 18 months, showed that text messaging made drivers 23 times more likely to end up in a crash or near-crash.
The study also examined other driving distractions, including talking on a cell phone and reaching for objects in vehicles. Shooting off text messages posed the highest risk by far.
For the same drivers whose text messaging habits were observed, dialing a cell phone made the risk of a collision 5.9 times higher. Reaching for an electronic device upped the danger as well, but only slightly more than pressing a phone's buttons did.
Meanwhile, public opinion against texting and driving is on the rise.
In October, a New York Times/CBS News poll revealed that 97 percent of Americans believe sending messages while steering a car should be illegal. Half of those people said if it were outlawed, offenders should be punished at least as severely as drunk drivers.
The politics of text messages
The effort Bogdanoff refuses to consider would slap first-time offenders with a $30 fine, and drivers who end up in an accident after texting would face six points on their license.
But Bogdanoff says the measure is "extremely intrusive," and enforcing it would prove difficult.
In the future, she said, technology will probably accommodate text messaging to make it safer for drivers, much in the same way that radio settings can now be adjusted from steering wheels.
Besides, she added, "we are a multitasking society now."
But Nancy Detert, a Venice Republican who sponsored the Senate's version of the texting bill, argued that typing messages is much more dangerous than other driving activities, such as talking into a cell phone.
Although the legislative session will end in fewer than 48 hours, Detert is holding out hope for her effort, which she calls "a no-brainer."
"I never give up till the fat lady sings," she said.
Bogdanoff, for her part, maintains the bill would do little to stop texting while driving. And, while she admits to sometimes firing off texts while stopped at traffic lights, she says she herself does not text while her vehicle is moving.
"I generally don't do it while going 65 miles an hour down I-95," she said.
Lyndsey Lewis can be reached at llewis@sunshinestatenews.com or (850) 727-0859.
