Text messaging is no longer legal while driving the streets of Birmingham.

The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to unanimously to ban texting and the use of electronic devices while driving.

The ordinance, effective Aug 1, includes reading and sending messages.

The UAB Police Department is using this ban as an educational experience for students, says Assistant Chief Major Melvin Atmore.

The department will issue warnings during the first thirty to sixty days, hoping to increase drivers’ awareness of the dangers of texting while behind the wheel.

“Anything that took my eyes and mind off the road could cause me to have an accident,” Atmore said.

“It only takes a second that you take your eyes off the road.”

Some students think the ban is a good idea because it will help prevent accidents due to texting while driving and possibly even save lives.

“I think that the text ban is good because one of my friends from high school died in a car wreck when she was texting,” graduate student Lane Adcock said.

Adcock is not alone in knowing a friend wreck vehicles due to texting.

“I have a friend who has wrecked all four of his cars texting and driving,” freshman Carrie Rains said.

Though her friend was not injured in any of the wrecks, all four cars were totaled. Rains’ friend, seventeen, has only been driving for one year.

Rains, though, is opposed to fining students and believes promoting the dangers of texting while driving would be more efficient.

“Instead of making it a law, they should just promote awareness,” she suggested, in opposition to fines. “I don’t think they can enforce it very well.”

Other students recognize the dangers but don’t plan to stop just because of the new ordinance.

“It’s not going to end,” sophomore Drew Price said. “I do it. I know it’s dangerous. I catch myself almost dying while texting.”

While Price sees reason for the ordinance, he feels that paying a fine is not a lesson learned.

“I’m going to be angry if I get a ticket for it,” he said, but does not expect his texting to end.

“I do it,” freshman Holley Tucker said, “but I do almost wreck.”

Tucker believes the law won’t stop drivers from texting.

“People are going to do it one way or another. It’s just going to make them more secretive about it.”

Tucker would firmly debate a ticket for texting in court, she said.

Senior Derrick Barclay, who said he rarely texts while driving because his phone is a touch screen, thinks texting is merely one of countless distractions that cause accidents.

Talking on cell phones, eating and putting on makeup are some other major distractions that could cause traffic accidents.

Sophomore Daniel Grier agreed.

“If you’re getting a ticket for driving and texting, you may as well get one for putting in a CD, changing the radio station, putting on makeup, or having others in the vehicle,” said Grier.

“I think the law will have some benefits, as well as negatives,” said Grier, who sees the ordinance directed at young, inexperienced drivers.

“Charging someone a fine because the police think they are texting is not cool, though.”

No students will be cited on campus for texting or typing on an electronic device unless an officer observes the process, according to Atmore.

“I want it to be educational when we observe someone texting,” he said.

“We want to educate people on the danger of texting, not to write a huge amount of tickets.”

“I hope the law will make people more aware that their undivided attention is needed on roadways…Too many people are dying and wrecking due to distracted drivers,” said Grier.

Atmore believes the ordinance will quickly cut down the number of texting drivers, hopefully reducing crash counts.
“I expect not to be writing a lot of fines for it,” he said. “Most people obey the law when a new law comes out.”

Atmore estimates that the largest group affected by this ban will be young adults between ages 16 and 24. Reports following a 2009 survey distributed by Pew Research Center released earlier this year support his theory.

According to the center’s reports, people in the “millineal generation,” ages 18 to 33, are most likely to admit texting and driving.

The study concluded that 47 percent of all adults who text have sent or read text messages while driving, averaging 27 percent of all adults.

In its February 2010 status report, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety states that 22 percent of all crashes are due to cell phone use.

Risk of a crash with injury or property damage is four times higher during a phone conversation.

“Those who care about safety will join our effort, not undercut it,” United States Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary Ray LaHood said in a press release for a DOT meeting July 7.

He reported that 30 states have followed the ample legislation outlawing texting while driving provided by DOT.