Texting and Driving is Dangerous and Now Expensive
Written by Denise Pellow
Tuesday, 11 August 2009 12:33
As lawmakers continue to push forward the legislative ban on texting and driving, 19 states have already passed laws to make texting and driving illegal. Now the push on the states comes from Senators of a Bill sponsored by Robert Menendez (NJ), Charles Schumer (NY) Mary Landrieu (A), and Kay Hagan (NC). The texting while driving bill is designed to withhold highway money from states that do not implement the ban after two years. The New York Times is running a series of articles called Driven to Distraction on Texting While Driving.
Here is a chart provided by the Governors Highway Safety Association to help all of us confused about which states have imposed what regulations as far as driving with cell phones and what are the restrictions and the ban on driving while texting.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety text messaging is banned for all drivers in 14 states, now 19 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, novice drivers are banned from texting in 10 states (Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, and West Virginia) and school bus drivers are banned from text messaging in one state (Texas).
Just what do these laws state and what is the violation for use of a cell phone in a motor vehicle and/or while texting while driving? While we can teach our children texting while driving is against the law, but as parents know that this activity will not necessarily cease. Therefore, what can we expect if our children are caught using a cell phone while driving or texting while driving, besides the obvious - a potential fatal crash? Read More...
Do you ever wonder if a particular website is safe for internet users? Do you have a website you want listed in the Safe and Responsible Website Directory? This site is home to thousands of sites that you can check their directory for safe internet use. To qualifiy your site please visit The Institute for Responsible Online and Cell Phone Communications. Place the seal on your website and tell the world your site is safe. Or check the directory for a safe site of interest. This seal displays to kids, parents, educators, etc that your site is 2.1C Safe & Responsible. http://www.iroc2.org/page/21c-safe-responsible-website
The decision today in the Lori Drew case reinforces our mission at KidsBeSafeOnline and in my new book The Five Dangerous Trends Concerning Kids, Technology and the Internet that it is more important than ever to educate parents about the dangers that can happen through technology and that awareness is power in the prevention of bad things that can happen to our children because of the technologies they use.
My heart goes out to Tina Meier and her family, and we must remember Tina was very instrumental as we passed the law in Missouri, Senate Bill 818 that protects Missouri children 17 and under from cyberharassment by an adult and most other states have adopted and passed similar legislation in their states as well.
We have to remember as parents, educators and as adults that prevention is key and by providing the information on a large scale will make great progress in bringing protection to children who use these types of technologies. Read about the Acquittal by Kim Zetter
Unless Judge Wu decides to continue the sentencing hearing again for Lori Drew, who is now nationally known as an adult who cyberbullied a child, Megan Meier, by setting up a fictitious MySpace account in the name of "Josh Evans." and lead 13-year old Megan into a relationship with the fictitious "Josh" only for the relationship to turn mean, Megan committed suicide 20 minutes after getting offline with the invented personality. Lori Drew faces a sentence of up to three years in prison and a fine of $300,000 for violating the terms of service on MySpace. Read full story...
Let us know your thoughts on what Lori Drew's sentence should be?
Teen Annual Summit to Inform Parents of Potential Dangers
Written by Denise Pellow
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 15:45
Cox Communications and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children holds it annual summit today (full media release) to inform parents of potential dangers of the Internet, and has released its results of a new survey, on behaviors of kids and the technologies they use. 1 in 5 has sent text messages that include semi-nude or sexually-explicit images n/k/a "sexting." Their findings discuss that most children surveyed use sexting to send images to their boyfriends or girlfriends. They found that 11% sent these types of images to strangers. Ages ranged from 13 to 18 and 80% were under 18 years of age.
As we partner with www.iroc2.org and our message to parents is to be proactive in our children's education of 21st Century Responsibility, not reactive once the actions have already been taken. Teaching our children the risks, responsibilities and the consequences of their actions and behaviors through technology is key to a safe and productive future. The actions they take today can affect the outcome of their future for tomorrow. Read full article about the results of the Survey here.
