Could a Texting and Driving Ban Pass this Legislative Session?

The start of the next legislative session in Austin is still a couple of months away, but state lawmakers are already beginning to file bills. Among them: State Representative Tom Craddick, who has once again filed a measure calling for a texting-while-driving ban. It’s similar to a bill passed in 2011, which Gov. Perry vetoed.

In the new year, with a new Governor and Lieutenant Governor, might there be new thinking about this old debate? Could we see a texting-while-driving ban passed again, and this time signed into law?

We discuss the potential for such a bill to pass through the legislature, and be received more favorably by our governor-to-be.

Then: drivers aren’t just texting behind the wheel, they’re also making phone calls, using GPS to find their way around, checking out posts on social media, e-mailing, searching for restaurants, playing podcasts and playing music. It’s become habit for many of us, but a distracting and potentially dangerous one.

We discuss why Houston’s drivers have a hard time unplugging behind the wheel. And we examine technology’s role, from products that make it easier for motorists to drive hands-free, to technology that prohibits or limits a driver’s ability to use a phone.