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Texting while driving is illegal and unsafe. Why is it the norm?

Texting while driving, texting while walking, texting while biking—I’ve done it all. How can we stop people like me from killing people like you?

By Jonathan Purtle

Texting while driving, texting while walking, texting while biking—I must admit I've done it all, even though I know it's a dangerous and dumb thing to do. And I'm not alone. At this very moment, looking out my office window, I can count four drivers texting, checking e-mail, or surfing the web on their phones as their vehicles roll down 15th Street.

So how can we change the culture around texting and driving, and ultimately get people not to do it? For one, laws can indeed shape social norms. While texting bans may not be terribly effective in changing behavior today, they hold promise to gradually stigmatize it over time. Laws that include a moral component could also be effective.

Driving drunk and driving while texting are not the same thing. But as people come to realize that both behaviors can cause serious injury and death to others—as well as to the drivers— social norms are likely to shift and behaviors are likely to change. I for one vow to forever change my texting-while-driving practices. Not because it's illegal, not because I know it puts my life at risk, but because the prospect of causing serious harm to someone else as a result would be a moral burden to heavy to bear.

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