DUI Or DWT?

By FITSNews || As someone who habitually drove drunk back in “the day” (he’s got a DUI to prove it) – and someone who habitually texts while driving today (bad, bad founding editor), Sic Willie is the ideal person to answer this question.

“Which is more dangerous: drunk driving or driving while texting?”

“DWT, mos def,” Sic said.

Really?

Actually, he’s right.

Studies have shown that driving while texting is much more dangerous than DUI (or DWI, depending on what state you come from), the logic being that drunk drivers at least have their eyes on the road most of the time.  In fact, the reaction time for drunk drivers is substantially faster than the reaction time for driving texters, who are three times slower to pick up on thinks like red lights or brake lights.

Now … you’re probably thinking that because this is a hardcore libertarian website that we opposed any law cracking down on DWT.

Wrong.

We’re all about individual liberty around here, people (obviously), but there’s a point where that “liberty” can infringe on the individual liberties of others – in which case, it’s not really liberty at all, is it?

For example, Sic Willie’s right to DWT is trumped by your right not to get run over by a distracted Sic Willie.

Seriously, you don’t call it “liberty” when a drunk driver who is texting his favorite prostitute (while simultaneously locating “Shoop” on his iPod) runs a red light and plows into a family returning home from a midnight mass, do you?

Of course not.

There’s nothing wrong with drinking, prostitution or Salt-n-Pepa in our book, but adding “driving” to this mix presents a problem.

Having said that, we stridently oppose any effort by the federal government to resort to its tired old strategy of blackmailing states into changing their existing laws.

DWT laws – like speed limits, DUI law, primary seat belt enforcement and other roadway-related matters – should be the exclusive purview of state governments, especially in “donor” states like S.C. (which gives up more than it gets in highway dollars).

Also, we oppose efforts to link cell phone bans with DWT bans.

Clearly talking on your cell phone while driving isn’t anywhere near as dangerous as DWT, and government’s efforts to incorporate cell phone bans into DWT legislation is overreaching, pure and simple.

UPDATE: We would like to point out that you can text from here just fine.

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