Daily Herald editorial

Technology is supposed to make things easier and better. Sometimes it has the opposite effect, as in the plague of accidents that text messaging has caused. Austin police, along with departments throughout the state, were planning to keep a sharp eye out for distracted drivers today and make enforcement of the state’s don’t-text-and-drive law a priority. We’re glad they are doing so.

Horror stories about texting drivers abound. Head down, focused on a tiny display and tinier buttons, drivers have had an alarming tendency in recent years to driver their cars into other cars, pedestrians and bicyclists while texting. It would perhaps be an over-statement to say that texting has become a plague — but it has certainly become a serious problem, one which has cost many lives and untold property damage, not to mention scaring many drivers with near-tragic close-calls.

The remedies are simple: Ignore texts while driving or, if they are truly urgent, pull over and tend to the matter away from traffic.

Texting while driving may not be as dangerous and stupid as driving drunk, but it ranks right up there among foolish behaviors, along with not wearing a seat belt. We hope that Austin police are successful today at educating drivers about the need to leave their cell phones in their pockets while driving.