Transportation Dept. to convene summit on text messaging

The Transportation Department will convene a “summit” next month to tackle the problem of texting while driving, Secretary Ray LaHood announced today.

LaHood said he’d like to ban the practice, but added that further measures must be developed to actually change the behavior of drivers.

“If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting,” LaHood said. “But we’ve learned from our efforts to get people to wear seat belts and to persuade them not to drive drunk that laws aren’t always enough. Often, you need to combine education with enforcement to get results.”

Legislation has already been introduced in the Senate to ban texting while driving. The bill would require all states to implement their own ban or risk losing federal highway funds.

The Transportation Department’s summit will include lawmakers, public safety advocates, and law enforcement officers.

“When we are done, I expect to have a list of concrete steps to announce,” LaHood said.