Over the last seven years, most states have banned texting by drivers, and public service campaigns have tried a wide range of methods to persuade people to put down their phones when they are behind the wheel.
Yet the problem, by just about any measure, appears to be getting worse. Americans are still texting while driving, as well as using social networks and taking photos. Road accidents, which had fallen for years, are now rising sharply.
That is partly because people are driving more, but Mark Rosekind, the chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said distracted driving was “only increasing, unfortunately.”
“Big change requires big ideas.” he said in a speech last month, referring broadly to the need to improve road safety. So to try to change a distinctly modern behavior, lawmakers and public health experts are reaching back to an old approach: They want to treat distracted driving like drunk driving.
An idea from lawmakers in New York is to give police officers a new device called the Textalyzer. It would work like this: An officer arriving at the scene of a crash could ask for the phones of the drivers and use the Textalyzer to check in the operating system for recent activity. The technology could determine whether a driver had just texted, emailed or done anything else that is not allowed under New York’s hands-free driving laws.
“We need something on the books that can change people’s behavior,” said Félix W. Ortiz, who pushed for the state’s 2001 ban on hand-held devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, “people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cell phone.”
32. How was the original ban on drivers’ texting in the US?
A.Insignificant. | B.Irregular. | C.Irresistible. | D.Ineffective. |
33. What does the underlined word “That” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A.Road accidents are now rising sharply. | B.Americans are still texting while driving. |
C.Too many people are driving after drinking. | D.Drivers are using social networks and taking photos. |
34. What can the Textalyzer be used to do?
A.Identify drivers’ location. | B.Test drivers’ speed. |
C.Check drivers’ cell phone. | D.Predict drivers’ destination. |
35. What can we know about Félix W. Ortiz?
A.He made the ban to punish distracted driving. |
B.He proposed the law to regulate drivers’ behaviors. |
C.He invented the Textalyzer to test drivers’ behaviors. |
D.He advised to improve the next generation cell phone. |