Virginia Wants To Ban 'Driving While Texting'Virginia Wants To Ban 'Driving While Texting'

It's called "DWT," or driving while texting on a cell phone, and state legislators in Virginia want to outlaw the practice.

Virginia's General Assembly is considering legislation so tough that even texting while driving an electric wheelchair would be forbidden, along with a ban on the practice while driving a bicycle, a motorcycle, and a moped, too.

"Texting belongs in its own category," Lon Anderson, an AAA official, told The Washington Post. "It is extremely dangerous. There is no place for driving and texting."

While talking into a cell phone while driving is often frowned upon and has been banned in some states, texting while driving has been gaining more attention from law enforcement officials and legislators in recent months. Earlier attempts by Virginia legislators to ban cell phone use while driving failed, but there seems to be new impetus behind the drive to outlaw texting.

The deaths of five high school graduates in a car accident last summer is suspected to have occurred when the driver was texting on her cell phone.

The movement against DWT isn't universal, however. In Chicago, an attorney is challenging authorities to drop penalties leveled against drivers charged with texting while driving.

More and more evidence is pointing to the hazards of operating a phone while driving a moving vehicle. A University of Utah study released earlier this month demonstrated that the reaction of young adults talking on cell phones while driving is as slow as the reaction times of senior citizens. The Utah research group also established that conversation -- and not the use of hands-free phone devices -- is the main distraction while driving and talking on cell phones.