Another year, another attempt to make three incongruent (if not volatile) factors — technology, teen drivers and transportation safety — fit happily together.

Here’s a little bit more information about some cell phone-specific changes to Texas law that you should be aware of:

Underage Cell Phoning
No one under the age of 18 can use a wireless communication device while driving, according to House Bill 2730 and House Bill 339.

Texas joins 20 other states in taking this kind of precaution (but not the six states that have banned all ages from using hand-held phones while driving). There are a few caveats — drivers under 18 who got their license before September 1, 2009 are still restricted from using a wireless device for six months — but this law fairly clear. Sorry, teens.

Texting While Driving
Included in the under-18 law, quite obviously, is texting. And e-mailing. And iPhone-ing. And fantasy football trading… You get the picture. No wireless communicating at all. Here’s why:

A Texas Transportation Institute survey revealed that of 10,000 Texas teen drivers, nearly one-third acknowledge texting while driving despite a belief that such a practice is dangerous.

“The autos now are faster and more powerful. You have people driving with their knees while they put on makeup and answer their iPhones,” Rep. Joe Pickett, an El Paso Democrat told the Dallas Morning News. “We create our own problems.”

Still, even this law isn’t without controversy. Some have raised questions about the hypocrisy involved when states — including Texas — send mass texts to drivers (albeit ones warning of potentially dangerous road conditions).

Calling in a School Zone
According to House Bill 55, it’s now illegal to use a hand-held cell phone in an active school zone, unless your car is fully stopped (as in waiting to pick up your kid—we wouldn’t recommend risking whipping out your phone while stopped temporarily in traffic or at a red light) or calling in an emergency.

Communities can only enforce this if the school zone has warning signs in place, but — for the students’ sake and yours — it’s a good idea to get into the habit of hanging up around the kids. Fines can reach $200.

“To put it plainly, distracted driving is a menace to
society,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
said. “Distracted driving is an epidemic, and it
seems to be getting worse every year.”

That quotation is part of an AP news report about federal investigations into the increased dangers of driving while focusing a significant part of your attention onto something else, something which the Transportation Department reports caused a half million injuries and 6,000 deaths last year alone.

LaHood went on to say that the government would make use of the same strategies that worked in the past with drunk driving and car safety belts: a “combination of strong laws, tough enforcement, and ongoing public education.”

Some members of Congress have already introduced legislation that would cost states 25 percent of their federal highway funding unless they banned emailing or texting while driving.

You can read the entire article by Ken Thomas of the Associated Press here.

CNBC’s Phil LeBeau has also been talking about the dangers of texting while driving, including this article from Car and Driver magazine.

Here he is discussing the Car and Driver study on the Today Show on MSNBC. The evidence is clearly presented and really frightening.

In this still from that Today Show story, you can see four results for the same car driven by the same driver. But look at how the stopping distance is affected by alcohol or distractions like email and texting.

It ought to be common sense: pay attention to the road ahead and the traffic around you.

Anything that distracts you while driving makes you more dangerous.

Millions of people claim that talking on cell phones and especially texting are dangerous things to do while driving.

And millions of other people still talk and text while they’re behind the wheel.

A recent study is on the side of those who claim it’s too dangerous. A study by the Virginia Transportation Tech institute watched a group of drivers for 18 months and found that drivers who were texting were 23 times more likely to be in a crash than when those same drivers weren’t texting. (Original NYT article here.)

As important as those messages may seem, they’re not worth the risk.

Like we tell our students, a big part of driving defensively is making smart decisions. If being safe on the road is more important, send the message later. If the message is more important, pull over to send it.

*may I have your attention, please