The Obama administration is proposing some new rules for certain federal and other employees to prohibiting texting while driving. Some states already have some restrictions in place regarding the use of cell phones while driving, both for talking and texting. The Dallas Morning News posted a good article on the proposal.

A couple of people I know from work strongly oppose such a law, claiming it’s yet another example of big government interfering with personal liberty. Presumably, in their view, people should have the right to make bad decisions even if those decisions hurt other people. Although I can see their point, I strongly disagree with them.

The primary purpose of law is to force people to behave responsibly when they refuse to do so voluntarily.

People make decisions based on a variety of motivations, such as love, hate, duty, fear, peer pressure, and greed, to name a few. In the case of texting while driving, just like drinking while driving and any number of other choices, positive motivations such as love and duty have failed miserably. Human beings in general just don’t care enough about strangers to stop doing many activities that put others at risk. If our goal as a society is to eliminate the damage caused by people’s stupid choices, legislation and punishment seems to be the only viable solution. Like it or not, the fear of punishment is often the only reason that sinful people like us will do the right thing.

What do you think?