A new law that came into effect Thursday, September 30th in Massachusetts aims to end driving while texting. This law, Chapter 155 of the Laws of 2010, makes it illegal for any driver to text behind the wheel and bars junior operators (drivers under the age of eighteen) from any cell phone use whatsoever while driving.

The Boston City Council’s decision to approve this law was unanimous. The new law has also received full support from the American Automobile Association.

If caught texting, adult drivers will face a $100 fine for their first offense, a $250 fine for their second, and a $500 fine for their third offense and all future offenses.

Junior operators will receive an even harsher punishment. In addition to having to pay the above fines, they will receive a 60-day license suspension, be required to take an “attitudinal retraining” course, pay a $100 reinstatement fee, and retake the state’s permit test as penalty for their first offense. For their second offense, they will receive a 180-day license suspension, and for their third offense, they will receive a year-long license suspension.

People born in the last decades of the 20th century, coined the ‘technology generation’, have grown up surrounded by many high-tech innovations. One of the defining advancements in this generation’s technology has been the development of the cell phone. According to a 2009 Pew Research Center study, 83% of teenagers own a cell phone by age seventeen. Another Pew study found that half of these teens send fifty or more texts daily.

Texting so incessantly, some young drivers may neglect to put down their phones when they get behind the wheel. A survey conducted by the Allstate Foundation showed that 56% of teen drivers admit to using their phones while driving. Though this distraction may have once seemed insignificant, it’s now being recognized as a real danger.

“There is no way to concentrate while texting. I think it’s just as bad as drunk driving.” said Sergeant Ed Walsh of the Wayland Police Department.

Car and Driver magazine recently conducted a study comparing the reaction times of a person driving while texting with those of an intoxicated driver. The results showed that the reaction times of a person driving while texting were 3-4 times slower than those of an intoxicated driver.

However, there is one question being commonly asked by both police officers and drivers: how is this law going to be enforced?

“That’s the hardest part about it because you can’t really see anybody texting. What I would look for is somebody looking down, or if you see them holding the device,” said Sergeant Walsh.

If a driver is in a serious accident and police suspect texting was involved, they can get records from the phone company to prove or disprove texting. Officers can also tell just by looking at the driver and vehicle in question.

“Even if not causing accidents, you can definitely tell when they are [texting]. They swerve much like a drunk driver,” said Sergeant Walsh.

Young drivers also have their concerns. “I think it’s a good law, [texting] seriously distracts people, but it’s going to be hard to enforce.” said Dan Hong, a senior.

“Some people will [text] more sneakily because it’s against the law,” senior Taylor Dieffenbach said.

“When you try to be more sneaky, you put the phone lower and lower from the glass and lose complete sight of the road,” junior Christian Lozano added.

Sergeant Walsh believes most drivers will comply once the new law is in place. He hopes, and expects, that making texting illegal for drivers will make the roads of Massachusetts safer.

The ban on texting has prompted many opinions, ranging from those of the junior operatives, who will be the most restricted, to those of the police officers, who will be doing the restriction. There’s one thing they agree on: texting behind the wheel is a hazard to all.