Safety Officials Making the Rounds in MS Schools to Reduce Teen Traffic Deaths

Teenagers in Mississippi, who hold either an intermediate license or a temporary learning or driving permit, cannot send or receive texts on their phones while driving.

A new report by the U.S. Transportation Administration says more than a half million people were injured or killed in car crashes last year connected to driver distraction. Many of those victims were believed to be texting on their cell phone. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports what's being done in Mississippi to help protect young drivers.

Tre' Smith is a junior at Ridgeland High School.

"Personally, I don't have a phone but I do have older brothers who do text and drive."

The 16 year old honor student says when that happens it always makes for some pretty intense moments.

"Cause they do lose focus and there is over the line driving and the, not really paying attention to what happens and the split second decisions that they kind of miss sometimes.

This year there have already been 37 fatal accidents involving Mississippi drivers between the ages of 15 and 20. Robyn Layton is with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

" When we were younger it was just the radio or just having an extra passenger in the car. Now it's the telephone either ringing or somebody responding that they feel like, that urgency of responding to that text message. And the legislators passed a law back in the summer that went into effect about texting and driving for the teens and we hope that's gonna make a difference."

That law says teenagers in Mississippi, who hold either an intermediate license or a temporary learning or driving permit, cannot send or receive texts on their phones while driving. Doing so is a misdemeanor subject to a fine. some patrol officers say it's difficult to enforce. But Sergeant Gary Davis with the Ridgeland Police Department says he's hoping people will see it as a life saving tool.

"opposed to another restriction that we're placing on the public or the teenagers or just isolating them. When we start out with an inexperienced driver and then we add more and more distractions to them common sense dictates that we're gonna have a problem, we're gonna have an accident."

The Mississippi Office of Highway Safety is taking the safe driving message to high schools across the state, especially rural areas where a large number of teen accidents occur. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.