Starting next month, New York will become the 18th state to ban texting while driving, a habit that many local officials say will be difficult to police and even more difficult to deter, particularly among young people.
Cell phone usage while driving has been illegal for several years, but that does little to deter many drivers, said Amsterdam Police Chief Thomas Brownell. Brownell said he is in favor of the impending texting law.
"Laws like this, you have to be kind of mindless not to see it as necessary," he said. "Add the ridiculous factor of looking at a texting screen and it's beyond belief that people do it."
Brownell said his department regularly issues cell phone use tickets and often responds to accidents in which cell phone use is a contributing factor.
"We have had numerous accidents with people playing on their cell phones, and the next thing you know they've crossed the yellow line," he said.
Catching people who are texting or talking on a cell phone is difficult because when people see a patrol car, they instinctively pull the phone below their dash where it's not visible. If a driver doesn't admit to being on a cell phone prior to an accident, it's hard to prove the cell phone contributed to the crash, Brownell said.
Sometimes, though, drivers are so oblivious to what's going on around them and so absorbed by their cell phone, they don't even notice a police officer, Brownell said. Such was the case when Brownell himself issued the first cell phone usage ticket in Montgomery County years ago.
"I was at a stop light and the guy next to me was talking on his cell phone," he said. "I waved at him, I put my window down and yelled, and he ignored me. Finally, I got behind him and flashed my red lights. Finally looks up and I walk up to the car. He says, 'What do you want?' I said, 'I wanted to meet you. You're the guy they wrote this law for. You're the kind of person who can't do two things at once.'"
Fulton County Undersheriff Kevin Lenahan said if an accident is very serious or involved a fatality, the department could obtain a subpoena from the Fulton County District Attorney's office for phone records to determine if a cell phone was in use. In most minor accidents, though, that's not practical.
"Often we have that suspicion, but being able to prove it is something entirely different," Lenahan said.
Local school officials said enforcing bans on texting while driving would probably prove difficult since so many young people are virtually married to their phones.
"These kids, their phones go off 30 times an hour," said Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery County Board of Cooperative Educational Services Superintendent Geoffrey Davis. "They're so comfortable with them. It's their social networking."
Gloversville High School Principal Richard DeMallie agreed with Davis.
"Cell phone use just within the last two or three years has been on the rise," he said. "Proper etiquette seems to have gone by the wayside."
DeMallie said while last year about 3/4 of the high schoolers in Gloversville had cell phones, now nearly 100 percent have them. Cell phone usage is banned during school hours but that does not stop students from using them immediately before and immediately after school, DeMallie said.
"The rule is from 7:45 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. is work time," he said. "When 2:20 comes [the phones] are immediately out and they're on them."
DeMallie said many young people aren't properly trained in how to use their phones because of the rapid proliferation of more and more advanced technology.
"I don't think people expected cell phone use to start at such young ages," he said. "My 8-year-old niece has a cell phone. I think eventually, it will fall to the educators [who] will have to step up and teach proper phone [etiquette]."
Johnstown High School Principal Michael Beatty said teens need to have instantaneous communication with one another. Methods of communicating like texting have become second nature to them, he said.
"Within the last five years, it's really taken off," he said.
While teens may feel they have enough control of the device to send a quick text or make a phone call while driving, it's a false sense of security, Beatty said.
"I don't care if you're going 30 [mph] in the city or 70 on the thruway," he said. "All it takes it one second for something to pop up in front of you while you're looking at the keyboard."
Fulton County Stop DWI Coordinator and Broadalbin-Perth Driver's Education Instructor David Wiltey said he performs a very simple exercise during class to demonstrate the dangers of texting while driving.
"I wad up a piece of paper, then I ask everyone to take out their phone and send a text to their best friend," he said. "I can hit any one of those kids in the head with that piece of paper. It shows you can't text or dial a phone without sacrificing [driving ability]."
Wiltey said he had read studies that state texting while driving is comparable to drinking and driving. With young people so attached to their phones, though, it can be a hard habit to break.
"It's an interesting phenomenon within recent years," he said. "Now [while out driving] I have to ask them to put their phones in the trunk because even when they are observing as a passenger, their phones are going off."
Wiltey said by the end of the drivers education class, the students seem to understand that they should not be texting while driving.
Unfortunately, knowing it's wrong or dangerous doesn't stop many of them, nor does it stop adults from breaking the law, said Gloversville Police Capt. James Lorenzoni.
"We understand there are emergencies, and when you have kids to taxi around it's convenient, but it's not worth the risk of killing someone," he said.
Lorenzoni pointed out that before cell phones, people survived with just a land line.
"I don't know how many Fortune 500 CEOs we have here locally that need to be in constant communication all the time," he said. "Not only do these people risk killing themselves, they're risking the lives of everyone around them - drivers, pedestrians, bikers. It's especially a concern for younger drivers, who are inexperienced as it is."
Lorenzoni said while Gloversville police have not written many tickets specific to texting, cell phone usage tickets are commonly handed out. A ticket for cell phone use while driving can run the driver up to $100 in fines, plus surcharges, and appears as points on the offender's license.
With the texting ban going into effect Nov. 1, Fulton County Traffic Safety Board Chairwoman Denise Frederick said her agency will likely discuss the new law at subsequent meetings.
"Anything that takes the driver's attention from the road can affect their ability to drive, and texting literally requires removing your hands from the wheel," she said. "The ban is a sound decision."