You don't need an exhaustive academic study to establish that driving a car while sending a text message is not a smart idea. Still, one recent study found that young drivers far more likely to get in wrecks and even run over pedestrians while texting, while another revealed that 83 percent of Americans think it's not a bad idea

and should be banned. Meanwhile, one in four drivers admit to doing it from time to time.

Reports the Christian Science Monitor: But it’s no joke. And the bigger the vehicle you're driving, the greater the danger. Just ask the people who were on the Boston Green Line trolley that smashed into the back of another one recently. At the time of the accident, the driver was texting his girlfriend, he admitted. Dozens were injured, the driver lost his job, and the MBTA said it would ban on-the-job cellphone use and fire anyone caught using a cellphone, pager, or similar device during working hours.

But at least no one was killed in that accident. The same is not true of the horrific accident last September in California when, it is speculated, a train operator may have missed a stop signal because he was texting shortly before the accident.

Last year, Mark Melrose of Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, N.J., a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, told USA Today that most people probably don’t initiate text messages while driving, but find it hard not to respond if they receive one.

From the urban dictionary courtesy of the Monitor: "Text-end: When a text-messaging-distracted driver rear-ends the vehicle in front of [him]...."  

While there is little dispute whether drivers should be texting or not, Dallas attorney Brian Bolton says legislation is not the answer to this problem and won't make streets any safer. The problem is enforceability and practicality. "We're seeing that statewide bans of text messaging are no more successful in eliminating bad behavior than other laws regulating speeding, seat belts or mandatory insurance," Bolton says. "Unless police see a driver actively text messaging, this kind of choice is almost impossible to enforce." Bolton points out that there is little sentiment to create laws that regulate other actions - from eating to putting on make-up - that can cause driver distraction. "Public awareness and common sense are likely going to be more effective than broad-based bans." To interview Mr. Bolton, contact Barry Pound at 800-559-4534 or barry@androvett.com.