Better World Club: Hey AAA, N1 on Txt Bans

And Thx 4 the Referral

AAA Campaign to Ban Texting While Driving in All 50 States Now Counts 30

No, it's not the heat getting to your head, but you might want to sit down anyway. Better World Club is, in fact, congratulating AAA on its continuing success in campaigning to prohibit text messaging while driving in all 50 states by 2013.

AAA launched its campaign in September of 2009 and has since been lobbying for federal and state laws that ban texting by drivers in places where such laws don't exist and to strengthen existing laws where they do. Granted, Better World Club had come out in support of a texting ban for drivers as early as February of 2007, at which time a AAA spokesperson in Florida didn't think that cell phone use by drivers posed a specific danger. AND, 18 states and the District of Columbia had already enacted "drexting bans" when AAA made its announcement. We're still happy that AAA came around to our side on the issue.

A study done in southern California before the campaign began found a 70 percent decline in texting by drivers after a texting ban was passed there.

On July 1, Delaware became the 30th state to enact a texting ban, joining a growing list that includes Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The new law in Delaware also makes it illegal for drivers to talk on handheld cell phones. California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington have similar laws that permit drivers to talk on cell phones only with a hands free device.

AAA commends Delaware in a press release at PR Newswire, and Better World Club commends AAA for its efforts in helping to get the law passed. (We'll commend them, but we won't send you directly to their website.)

AAA Oregon/Idaho was recently kind enough to give us a referral. AAA Oregon/Idaho doesn't offer fleet services, so when a potential customer called them to inquire about that coverage, the AAA representative suggested she might check out Better World. If AAA Oregon/Idaho hadn't already aped our Bicycle coverage, we'd suggest they refer us all the cyclists that call as well. LOL.