First, I am hopeful that the high level of awareness about the dangers of texting while driving, while important, doesn't soften the focus on ordinary use of cell phones while driving.  We have to remember that using one's cell phone to have a conversation while driving appears to create a risk similar to drinking and driving.  Texting appears to be worse, yes, but "distracted driving" is the overarching issue.

I thought about this again a couple of nights ago when 60 minutes re-ran a report about a district attorney who has prosecuted DUI cases as murder and not as manslaughter.  What do we think ought to be appropriate efforts to prevent DUI?  What do we think we ought to do in the way of prosecuting DUI cases?  Given that the risk of driving while using a cell phone poses a similar risk and texting while driving seems to create an even higher risk than DUI, how exactly do we plan to argue that the legal penalties for texting, or even talking on a cell phone, while driving, shouldn't be similar?  What will the argument be?