Texting ban has unintended consequences

The government's effort to save us from our own stupidity has backfired once again.

We haven't seen many "texting while driving" tickets come through county court, but since July 15, it's been the law of the land that it is illegal to send an SMS from your cell phone while driving.

You can't be pulled over for texting, but if you are stopped for some other reason and then found to have been texting, it's a $200 fine and three points off your license.

The results are predictable.

Rather than not texting, many of us are simply hiding the cell phone below sight level when we text while driving. As a result, we're taking our eyes off the road even longer than when texting was still legal.

It's too early for a Nebraska study, but according to the Highway Loss Data Institute, a research group funded by the automobile insurance industry, four states that outlawed texting while driving have seen no reduction in the number of crashes. In fact, insurance claims related to vehicle crashes went up slightly in California, Louisiana and Minnesota.

"Texting bans haven't reduced crashes at all ... it's an indication that texting bans might even increase of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws," said Adrian Lund, president of both the institute and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety."

The Lancaster (Nebraska) County Sheriff's office said it recently issued its first texting ticket after an officer pulled over a driver who swerved into another lane without signaling.

The driver, an 18-year-old woman, admitted she had been texting, and a bottle of vodka was found in her car. She was cited for driving while intoxicated, texting and being a minor in possession of alcohol.

Clearly, she had more problems than texting while driving.

In the end, the problem probably won't be solved by legislation, but by whatever new technology replaces texting in the next few years.