CELL THEORY Tim Barker MCT
With so much attention focused on the dangers of texting while driving, you’d have to say that Noah Lander was ahead of the times when he told his employees five years ago to put down their cell phones and watch the road. Lander, who owns a 1-800-GOTJUNK franchise in University City, Mo., decided it wasn’t worth the potential hit to his insurance rates to allow workers to talk or text while driving. “The second time one of our drivers rear-ended somebody while talking on the phone, I put the kibosh on that,” said Lander, who has eight trucks roaming the city on the typical day. Lander is hardly alone in his conviction that texting and driving don’t mix. Research, including a recent study the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, suggests the practice can be as risky as drinking while driving. There’s talk in Congress about withholding federal highway funding from states that don’t outlaw it. And late last week, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that could have major implications for the future of mobile texting. For starters, it banned all federal employees - that’s about 4.5 million people, including the military - from texting and driving while doing government business or using government phones. The order defines texting to include sending or reading messages, as well as things like typing an address into a GPS device. But the order also instructs government agencies to “encourage” contractors and subcontractors to follow the government’s lead. “We’ll see the trickle-down effect after those agencies start to put that into their contracts,” said Suzanne Alumbaugh Bowling, a human resources expert with Employer Ad-
vantage, a Joplin-based firm that provides business services to a wide range of companies. Already there has been a significant movement locally and nationally by companies that essentially have decided lawmakers haven’t done enough to curtail what studies have shown to be a hazardous activity. And it’s a problem that’s not likely to go away on its own, considering the surging popularity of text messaging: Some 4 billion messages were sent daily during the first half of 2009 - nearly double the rate in 2008 - according to The Wireless Association, a trade group. Thus far, 18 states have banned texting by all drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. An additional nine states have banned texting by novice drivers _ typically defined as drivers under the age of 18, though Missouri set the bar at 21. With so many other states taking a hands-off approach, businesses large and small are being forced to consider internal policies to protect themselves - should any of their employees be involved in a textingrelated accident. “It really is a public safety issue rather than a corporate safety issue,” said Doug Winter, an attorney with Bryan Cave in Washington. “But if the government doesn’t step up, they have to fear the possibility of lawsuits.” Last week, AT&T announced it was launching a national public service campaign aimed curtailing texting in cars. As part of that initiative, the carrier also told its 290,000 employees that they can’t do it either. “We wanted to lead by example,” said Kerry Hibbs, a spokesman for the company. “It wouldn’t make sense for our employees to be driving and texting when we’re asking other people not to do it.” It’s something that many companies have done, or are considering doing, for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is the protection from lawsuits.
News Campus briefs Wednesday •The Human Race Machine in the CSC through Oct. 20 • Imagine Graduation in the CSC Atrium at 11 a.m. • Mexican Americans: Past, Present, Future
Thursday • American College Theatre Festival in the Fain Fine Arts Theatre • Writing Proficiency Exam in Bolin 127 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. • Employee Service Pen Lunch Award in the CSC Comanche at noon • Tobacco Cessation Course in Bridwell 109 at 4:30 • Salsa Lessons by the Spanish Club in CSC Kiowa at 7 p.m.
Friday • American College Theatre Festival in the Fain Fine Arts Theatre • Teaching and Learning Resource Center Brown Bag Lunch in CSC Wichita at noon
The Wichitan October 14, 2009
5
Saturday • American College Theatre Festival in the Fain Fine Arts Theatre. • Writing Proficiency Exam in Bolin 127 at 10 a.m.
Monday • Homecoming week • Last day for drop with ‘W’ • Student T-Shirt Exchange in the CSC 194 at 8 a.m. • Lip Sync Competition in CSC Comanche at 8 p.m.
Tuesday • Dedication of Health and Wellness Center at 2 p.m. • Student T-Shirt Exchange in the CSC 194 at 8 a.m. • Tobacco Cessation Course in Bridwell 109 at 4:30 • Comedian Tracey Ashley in the CSC Comanche at 8 p.m. • Classic Film Series: The Bad Seed in the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at 7 p.m.