Texting ban takes effect in Ohio By: Jessica Kopena EVENDALE, OHIOOn August 31, a law went into

effect throughout the state of Ohio t hat bans texting while driving. The ban is primarily geared toward drivers under the age of 18. It prohibits teen s from using wireless communication devices in any way while driving, according t o the texting while driving law. The ban prohibits those under 18-years-old from using any handheld electronic co mmunication device while driving in Ohio, even if that person is waiting for a l ight or stuck in traffic. Under the law, teenagers cant do any of the following w hile driving: talk on a cell phone; write, send or read a text; send or read ema ils; play video games; or use a mobile GPS device. Those who violate the law wil l face a $150 fine for the first offense, and $300 for repeated violations. They could even have their licenses suspended for a year. Adults face fewer restrictions. The law then bans merely using a handheld electr onic wireless communications device to write, send or read a text while driving in Ohio, according to the texting law. I sat down with Steve Niehauser, a lieutenant for the Evendale Police Department in Cincinnati to discuss the new law. Q: Tell me about the texting ban. A: The purpose of it was designed to keep a drivers attention on the road as oppo sed to using their phone device. We were experiencing a number of accidents wher e it caused the drivers attention to be focused on the device as opposed to the r oad. Q: Have you ever texted while driving? A: To answer that question honestly, I did. I have probably been texting for six or seven years. What cured me was a public service message from the Department of Transportation, here in Ohio. It was a story about a guy that was texting, cr ossed a single-lane road and this was just your average businessman going to wor k. It was in Colorado and was a 50 mile per hour zone, but he crossed the median and caused a two-person fatality accident. He ended up getting jail time for th at and he did this public service message from prison. That right there cured me and I made my kids watch it. Q: What part of the ban do you think will be the hardest adjustment for people t o make? A: The hardest adjustment for people would be they become so accustomed to texti ng. When you get a text, the first thing you want to do is respond with another text. People have to realize there is a generation now that all they know is cel l phones. I was before the computer generation, but my kids, all they know is co mputers. Im thinking its the same thing with the cell phone generation. Thats not t o say that people my age dont still text when they shouldnt be, but I think people need to realize its not that important. Wait until you stop or pull over into a parking lot if its that urgent that you need to get that text out, but its certain ly not worth it while that vehicle is being driven. Q: What is your plan of attack for enforcing the ban? A: Obviously, when you get to an accident scene, were going to investigate the sa me. What was the cause of the accident? Are there any injuries, and two, what wa s the cause of the accident? If we can determine the cause and the factor in the accident was that the person was texting, well take appropriate action and cite them under the ban. Unless the person willingly admits that they were texting or shows you the phone, you may have to go throug

h some extra steps and get search warrants for phones. Our course of action woul d be to secure that phone as evidence, go get a search warrant for that phone. W e can get text messages for the last seven days, and thats going to include dates and times. If we were able to determine the exact time of the accident or close to that, and theres a text message at that time, then we can take the appropriat e action. Q: How do you think the texting ban will affect driving in Cincinnati? A: I hope that it ends up with less accidents and especially sure clear distance accidents (rear-ending). There are still accidents where people get run off the r oad. Texting is almost as dangerous as drunk driving is; driving when youre extre mely tired is the same type of incidence. Three-hundred fifty would be a typical year, but since cell phones came into effect, we have seen that number creeping up close to 400. My hope would be that wed start to see that number stabilized o r start to go back down. Q: Which age group do you think will be affected most by the ban? Why? A: I think its probably the age of my kids. The youngest is 15 and my oldest is 2 1, soon to be 22. Because theyve grown up so accustomed to the phone, my kids hav e all had phones since they were in grade school, so theyre used to the constant communication, whether it is text or Twitter. They will likely be affected becau se they utilize that type of media more than others. Q: Why isnt the ban the same for adults and teenagers? A: When a person first gets their drivers license at 16, from the age 16 to 17, t hey can only drive with one person in the car. Its very simple; they dont want the distractions of other people. I believe thats shown to lower the number of accid ents for 16-year-olds. 16, 17 and 18-year-olds are more social and their social life is more important to somebody my age, thats 47. You got to focus on them bec ause theyre the ones that are the most impulsive, as far as texting. Theyre more i nclined to do it. Q: I read online that Ohio is the 39th state to enforce this texting ban; how do you think this ban will affect the rest of the country? A: Its such a problem. Its hard to put a number on how many accidents texting has caused. The serious ones were ones youve seen in campaign ads. Minor accidents, w here there is less than $1,000 to $1,500 in damage; are the ones that are kind o f hard to determine too, because the person says, I just looked away for a minute . That type of accident isnt going to be worth an officers time to get a search war rant and