2007年NPR美国国家公共电台五月-Washington State's TWD: Texting While Dri

This is All Things Considered from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris. And I'm Andrea Seabrook. Okay, be honest. When was the last time you got lost driving and called a friend on your cell phone to get directions or dialed your spouse 1 to give a heads-up that you were stuck in traffic? Five states have passed legislation 2 banning calls on hand-held cell phones while driving. Now Washington State has gone one-step further. It has passed the first explicit 3 ban on text-messaging while driving. Chana Joffe-Walte reports.

When she starts driving, Jen Diamond in Seattle first has to get to the right Radio Station, then directions.

Your entire route is now shown. Continu to follow...

Then her four-year-old Elija has requests from the backseat, lots of them.

I want to listen to Beastie Boys now.

Take the next left turn.

Then recovering the grapes from Elija who is now dropping them on the floor. There are also toys rolling up under Jen's feet, and of course they're never-ending pounding in her back.

You are kicking my chair, Eli.

And then, a text message from her partner. "Close to home", Jen texts back, "five minutes." And then…

Actually that last part didn't really happen. But it could, when the text messaging ban in Washington State goes into effect, January 1st, 2008. But everything that did happen the DJying, GPSing and beating the kids, all still legal, although Jen's parenting magazine does make her feel guilty for it.

One of our magazines that we got said you shouldn't do anything other than drive when you are driving, but nobody does that.

Really? No one just pays attention to driving? I jumped out of Jen's pimped-out mom van and into Linda Stone's BMW to find out.

So we are on the highway. (Okay) Let's see what people are doing. We are in spy mode 4, and you are our spy leader. My spy follower 5, Linda Stone is an ex-software executive 6 who's now a tech consultant 7 writing a book about attention. At first, we only see minor 8 offences: a girl doing her hair, some guy eating chips, but then we hit traffic. And the criminals come out of the woodwork. That woman is text-messaging, right there. She is. In the Honda. She is totally stopped and text-messaging. And looking down on her lap.

OK, OK, I know that's bad. But I'm gonna play the role of a rule-obsessed five-year-old here for a minute and ask the obvious: what about the guy we just saw reading the paper? How come that's not banned? Or the woman we see flossing her teeth. The close-eyed singing or the tons of people we see eating? There are hundreds of things we do in our car that are potentially dangerous distractions 9. But Linda Stone says the ban on text-messaging is symbolic 10. She says it represents a larger push to do one thing at a time.

We are looking at different ways to protect our time. You see the signs all around of people caring more about protection and quality of life.

Signs like how everyone and their mom does yoga nowadays. And literal 11 signs that say no cell phones in restaurant or even some stores. Stone says the text ban is part of finally declaring: Enough is enough.

I think that if someone had tried to legislate 12 this, even five years ago, there is no way that they would have been able to pass this bill. And I think that it's because people are so ready to start making changes.

For those of you in Washington State who are not ready to start making changes, very soon there will be $101 tickets waiting for you. And violators just say you know, in traffic, yes you can tell.

She's text-messaging. She's doing email, oh my god. She is so not eyes on the road. She is so eyes on her blackberry, now hiding it because she knows we see her.

For NPR News I'm Chana Joffe-Walte in Seattle.

She thinks you are undercover.

I am.