Car Wrecks: Good News And Bad News From The Legislature

Surprisingly, in the midst of the ever-looming budget battle, auto accident-related legislation has been front and center thise week.

On the safety front, Texas is one-step closer to banning texting while driving.  A proposed texting while driving ban received preliminary approval from  the house yesterday.   The ban isn’t a full ban — it would prohibit drivers from texting while driving, but it wouldn’t ban the receipt of text messages.

If you’ve read this blog at all, you know that I’m all in favor of this proposal (or a stronger one).  We have to see clients all the time that are victims of texting drivers, and I’m firm about where I stand on the issue.  To read more of my posts on texting while driving, you can click here.

On the other end of the spectrum, the House also approved a bill that would potentially allow some roads to have an 85 mile per hour speed limit.    You know, I don’t always agree with the insurance industry, but we do agree on the potential safety problems here.  From the article:

“Obviously, the two things that kill most people on our highways are speed and alcohol. Increasing it to 85, or even 75, will have a dramatic impact on the death and injury rate on those highways where it’s implemented,” said Jerry Johns, a spokesman for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service.

He said drivers already exceed 70 mph highway speed limits.

“But 85 mph is simply too fast to drive even on a flat road. Any little hitch can cause an accident at that speed. There is still traffic on those roads, and to drive 85 mph is simply ludicrous,” he said.

I don’t know what will happen with either of these bills, but I’ll try to use this blog to keep you updated on their progress.