Wisconsin distracted driving laws need to catch up with technology

You see it all the time. The car in front of you, not taking off when the light turns green. The car that weaves in its lane, failing to maintain a consistent speed. When you pull alongside, you notice the other driver is looking at his or her phone. But even though that driver is putting others at risk by skimming Facebook or even watching a Youtube video, they may not necessarily be breaking the law. That’s why Wisconsin’s laws need to change. When Wisconsin passed a law several years ago to address the dangers of distracted driving, the law was written to only ban the use of cell phones to send or receive text messages while behind the wheel. But technology, and how we use it, has changed since that law was first created. That is why some Madison lawmakers are looking to rewrite the law to also cover sending an email, or surfing the internet under the state’s distracted driving law. It has become a real problem. Accidents caused by distracted driving are up significantly. Wisconsin should go farther, and use new technology, like free apps which block incoming texts while behind the wheel, in state vehicles. If the state is serious about cracking down on distracted driving of all sorts, they should require drivers of state vehicles to have this technology installed on their phones. Let’s at least make sure our state workers are keeping their eyes on the road.