We wholeheartedly support the Alabama House of Representatives’ common-sense vote to ban text messaging while driving.

Texting while driving seems even more dangerous than talking on cell phones — after all, you’ve got to take your attention off the road and onto the screen of your cell phone, right?

We are amazed at how people seem to forget the inherent danger in driving a car. Like Alabaster Deputy Police Chief Curtis Rigney said, “If you’re in a 3,000-pound vehicle driving 60,70 miles per hour, that should be the focus of your concentration.”

It’s ludicrous how many distractions people create while driving. In this week’s story on the texting vote, police officers talked about seeing people reading newspapers, watching TV and typing on computers while driving.

Can the State Legislature ban stupidity while driving? We’re just wondering.

We seriously urge the Alabama Senate to pass the ban on text messaging while driving. This bill needs to become a law as soon as possible.

Yes, we know it’ll be hard to enforce. It’s not that easy to tell if someone’s typing on a cell phone. But perhaps the threat of being caught and charged with a traffic violation will help deter those who wouldn’t think twice otherwise.

Our elected officials have a responsibility to make our streets as safe as possible. Kudos to the House of Representatives on doing just that with this bill.