MINNEAPOLIS -- Texting while driving has become as common as the rush hour commute itself, even though it is completely illegal in 34 states, including Minnesota.
"It is stupid. No other way to say it. Selfish, stupid and irresponsible," Minnesotans for Safe Driving founder Jon Cummings said Tuesday.
Texting while driving, according to federal officials, is an epidemic. It is as bad as drunk driving. In Minnesota, inattentive driving is to blame in at least 25 percent of all crashes.
The Minnesota State Patrol says texting behind the wheel delays a driver's reactions as much as being past the legal drinking limit to drive.
Now, there is a new smartphone app to police you behind the wheel. PhoneGuard is an app the can be downloaded to both the BlackBerry and Android phones for free.
How it works is pretty simple. When your phone is in your car, and you are driving at or above 10 miles per hour text, Facebook and email are all disabled.
Any text sent to you will go through but you can't access it on your phone in your car until you are at a stop. It is delivered, just delayed.
The person who sends you a text while you are driving will get an automated response that says you are driving and will respond later.
It's a good second step after making texting illegal, some say. But is not a cure for all.
What is true, is that a driver who crashes while texting isn't someone in an accident. That's a crash, where a choice was made to text and that, is the wrong choice.
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