Map Monday: State Bans on Texting and Driving

• June 9, 2015

This map, from Mother Jones, shows bans and fines on texting and driving in the different US states:

texting fines map

Check out Alaska!

Here’s what the article has to say:

The leading cause of death for teenage drivers is now texting, not drinking, with nearly a dozen teens dying each day in a texting-related car crash. Stark figures like this have driven 46 states to pass legislation banning texting and driving. But texting fines vary wildly across the country, and you’ll end up paying a little or a lot depending on where you got caught.

IMO we don’t take the distracted driving issue seriously enough. (See my first ever streets.mn post.) Education campaigns help you feel like your doing something, but rigorous enforcement and serious fines are the only policy solution to this problem that will actually work.

Bill Lindeke

About Bill Lindeke

Pronouns: he/him

Bill Lindeke has writing blogging about sidewalks and cities since 2005, ever since he read Jane Jacobs. He is a lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota Geography Department, the Cityscape columnist at Minnpost, and has written multiple books on local urban history. He was born in Minneapolis, but has spent most of his time in St Paul. Check out Twitter @BillLindeke or on Facebook.