Perhaps if Erin Leas had been the daughter of a phone company executive when she died in a car accident due to cell phone distractions, Texas laws might change. Instead, phone companies exert influence on your elected legislators to deny reform and maintain huge profits.

You may be saying to yourself, “I talk on my cell phone while driving, and I haven’t had a traffic accident yet, and I don’t want to quit.” But if Erin had been your daughter, you might sing a different tune.

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Actress Selena Gomez is a smart girl who’s onto something — something even more vital than courting the tweens who could push her past Hannah Montana’s Miley Cyrus as the Disney Channel’s next megastar. In fact, it’s something that could save Selena’s life — by preventing a car accident.

Selena has vowed to hang up and drive — at least, when she gets her license.

“Don’t do a thousand things in your car!” Selena told People magazine. “In the car, just focus on what you need to be doing.” And that means driving.

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A recent survey for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. reveals that 19 per cent of motorists admit to texting while driving. The real amount is probably higher, since not everyone will admit doing something so stupid. In fact, another survey in Massachusetts indicates that 28 per cent of people text while driving.

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Finally, progress is being made in the face of mounting carnage on America’s roads due to driver distractions caused by cell phones. And it’s not what you might expect.

No, it’s not a new state law, such as those in New York and California, which bans using cell phones while driving without a headset that frees both hands. Rather, this progress comes in the form of a device which will disable cell phones for real-time talking, texting or receiving messages while that phone is moving at a speed associated with a vehicle.

A Canadian software company called Aegis Mobility has developed the device, which is called a DriveAssistT. In effect, it takes the decision to use a cell phone while driving out of the driver’s hands.

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Teens aren’t going to like it, but what’s to like about being dead? Spurred by the fact that 5,000 teen drivers die annually in traffic accidents — and are 10 times more likely to have a crash than drivers 30-59 years old — some are calling for raising the driving age.

In Texas, that age is now 16. The lowest driving age is 14 years and three months (why the three months extra?) in South Dakota.  The highest driving age is 17, in New Jersey. And what’s happened in Bruce Springsteen country? The number of young drivers killed in teen driving crashes is consistently lower than in neighboring states with lower driving ages.

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