JACKSON, Miss. — Some state lawmakers are already talking a hard look at a bill to ban texting while driving. “It’s an epidemic,” said state Senator Dean Kirby, who supports a ban.
But no LOL about it, texting and driving is dangerous. “We’ve received numbers showing that there are more accidents from texting and driving, then there are DUIs,” he said.
And that’s one reason he thinks a lot of lawmakers are ready to pass a full texting ban in the 2014 Legislative session, “and with a heavy enough fine that people won’t say to themselves, ‘well it’s worth it.’”
Similar bills have died in the past, but Kirby says the problem has been: “the bills have been loaded up with all kinds of things.” And the thought of that is a SMH moment, even for Kirby. “Because If I am upside down in a ditch, I wanna be able to use my cell phone.”
Mississippi is one of less than a dozen states that does not have a full texting while driving ban.
