Dangers of texting and driving

Our highways have become more dangerous because of cell phones. Increasingly drivers are texting on their phone while driving and that's putting all of us at risk. Tuesday, the American Medical Association, AMA, announced it will lobby state legislators to ban text messaging while driving.

Texts are a quick, easy way to communicate. But when you're on the road, it can also be an easy to way to get into an accident.

"Our roads, on the best days, under the best of circumstances, are tough enough. When we start entering cell phones and text messages into it, we've taken it way beyond anything we should be dealing with out here. It's incredibly dangerous, and it's incredibly poor judgment to do that while you're driving," says Thompson Driving School instructor Bernard Allbright.

Allbright spends a lot of time on the road and sees drivers texting while on the road too often. "Whatever they're feeling they need to communicate, they need to wait. They need to wait to stop their car. It's not that important," Allbright says.

According to the National Roads and Motorists Association, text messaging drivers spent up to 400 percent more time with their eyes on the phone instead of on the road. Recent studies show text messaging is an increasing cause of car accidents throughout the U.S. Motorists who text message while driving are six times more likely to be distracted and have an accident.

"It’s difficult to get that documented. A lot of times, we go to accident scenes and we ask somebody what happened. The last thing they're going to tell us is 'well, I was texting and had a wreck,'" says Lt. Terry Hastings, Little Rock Police Department.

There's no law against text messaging and driving in Arkansas, but one state senator plans to tack it on a proposed bill that bans drivers from talking on a cell phone unless they have a hands-free device.

"Even though we don't have a law that says you cannot text while you're driving, there are laws that you can receive a ticket for it. If an officer sees you driving erratically and not paying attention he can write you for several charges," Hastings says.

"I think of my 22-year-old and my 14-year-old son who are out here on these roads and will be for a long time and it infuriates me to think people are that inconsiderate and willing to take those kinds of chances that could endanger my children and everyone else's," says Allbright.

Arkansas State Police have started collecting data on accidents related to text messaging to determine how much of a problem it is in the state. When troopers fill out accident reports there will now be a box they'll check that shows you were using an electronic device.

Washington D.C and seven states, including California, have made it illegal for all drivers to text and drive. In California, the public utilities commission recently banned certain railroad workers from using text-messaging devices or cell phones on moving trains after the collision between passenger train and a freight train in September. Investigators are looking into whether texting by an engineer was a factor in the crash which killed 25 people and injured 135.