By Brad Constant

Jacqueline Genovese, 20, knows firsthand how accidents can happen while texting behind the wheel.

“I got a flat tire once because I was texting while driving and I ran up on a curve and poked a hole in the side of my tire,” she said.

The National Safety Council reported that 28 percent of all car accidents are caused by texting or talking on the phone while driving and 81 percent of the population has admitted to texting while driving.

Brockton Police Chief William Conlon outlined the scenario by saying “texting is something that is a new phenomenon. People didn’t text until a few years ago. As we encountered it and found out how dangerous it is, measures needed to be taken to stop that practice.”

“It’s definitely a decrease in safety, people are too focused on the text message itself and not the road and the other people on the road, I don’t think it’s necessary,” said Genovese.

Genovese is aware of the dangers, saying “I don’t do it often, but if I get a text message that I need to respond to right away I’ll do it without even thinking.”

JonLars Carlson, 21, of Andover MA, said it’s not safe to text and drive “I feel it’s dangerous because you’re not putting your full attention to the road while you’re driving, which is bad, but I still do it occasionally.”

Carlson said he knows one friend who “whenever he sees a cop will put his phone down if he’s texting, but no changes besides that.”

Katherine H. O’Toole, of Duxbury MA, said she doesn’t text while driving, “I’m not good at multi-tasking so if I texted while I drove I’d probably crash into something,” she said.

A study done by the University of Utah found texting while driving to increase the risk of a crash 8 times, while driving drunk only increases the crash 4 times. Furthermore, the distance for a texter to stop, compared to an unimpeded driver, while driving 35 mph is 25 more feet, as opposed to just 4 feet for a drunk driver.

“Texting absolutely causes a decrease in driving because you cannot multi-task and drive effectively, your eyes need to be on the road to be a safe and effective driver and not on a phone screen or monitor,” said Anthony J. Noto, 21, of Westchester NY.

Stonehill Detective Sgt. Gerard A. Coletta thinks “with drinking, the problem is it slows your reaction time, whereas, with texting you’re concentrating on the text and not looking at the road.”

“People don’t realize that if you’re travelling 60 or 70 miles per hour you’re travelling 80 to 90 feet per second, you could double your reaction time if you’re texting while driving, that’s almost one hundred feet that you’ve travelled because you’re texting and not paying attention,” Coletta said.

Conlon, the Brockton Police Chief, said he doesn’t want to minimize the danger of drinking and driving, “but the drunk is at least trying to keep his hands on the wheel.”

“If with a friend was ‘three sheets to the wind’ you wouldn’t get in the car with them, same thing goes for texting,” Conlon said.

O’Toole has seen how driving can be a problem when she is with her sister. “She gets really distracted while she uses her phone and doesn’t pay attention to anything. She probably looks at her phone for about 15 seconds while not looking at the road. I won’t drive with her anymore. She has almost hit things on several occasions, I’ve told her to stop but she hasn’t.”

When asked if they’ve seen any noticeable changes since the new texting while driving legislation passed, most interviewees said no.

“I think it’s a really hard thing to patrol and people know that, it’s different than talking on the phone because you don’t have the phone up to your ear,” said Genovese.

O’Toole is a bit more optimistic, “I don’t think there have been any real changes. I think people are more aware when they’re doing it, but they don’t change their behavior. People are more careful when they’re doing it, but they’re still doing it,” she said.

Conlon said he believes “the new law has lessened texting somewhat, but not to a huge extent, there are going to be kids that know the penalties are severe and the consequences are dangerous so they’re going to stop so they don’t get caught.”

Conlon compared law to public education on smoking “as the new law gets more publicity and people realize how dangerous it is people will stop doing it. People will start to scold each other by saying stuff like ‘I’m in the car with you, put that thing away.’”

Genovese agreed, “If they were doing it before then they’ll keep doing it and just hide it better.”