MUNCIE, Ind. - Indiana lawmakers' efforts to ban texting while driving passed the muster of Gov. Mitch Daniels, who signed the legislation into law last year.
But enforcing the law has been difficult, and police across the state said unless the law is rewritten, they won't see positive results.
Since the law took effect July 1, police have written only a handful of citations for texting violations. That's in part because the law bars officers from confiscating a driver's cellphone to determine whether they were in violation.
"We actually have to catch the person texting," Sgt. Bruce Qualls, supervisor of the traffic division of the Muncie Police Department, told The Star Press. "So, it's a deal of, you look over and are they dialing on the phone? Are they actually texting? There's no way of really determining that."
The law bars the use of any telecommunications device to type, transmit or read text messages or email while a person is operating a moving motor vehicle. Indiana bars those younger than 18 from using wireless devices for any purpose while driving.
But a new survey indicates a majority of teenagers are still texting while driving, and law enforcement officials said they are frustrated by their inability to stop the practice.
The survey conducted for State Farm by Harris Interactive showed just 43 percent of drivers ages 16 and 17 said they have never texted while driving.
In Vigo County, there have only been three citations for driving and texting since the law went into effect, Terre Haute television station WTHI reported.
"A year later, it's not really become any easier to enforce it because we still need to know what you're doing as a law enforcement agency, whether dialing a phone number or whether you're texting, it's still a little hard to tell at times for us to discern what you're doing," Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Sergeant Joe Watts said.
Watts said he doesn't think the law has changed the behaviors of people who don't believe they're at risk.
"I think a lot of adults and a lot of teens who are conscious and safety-minded, I think they do understand and I think a good portion of those people are staying off the phones," he said. "The people that don't care or think that 'it's not going to happen to me,' I think this law's made no change in their mind and they're going to text and drive no matter what."
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