| In the fall of 2001 former New York Governor, | | | | teenage girls were in an SUV headed down the |
| George Pataki, signed a bill forbidding drivers from | | | | highway. When the driver suddenly veered into |
| talking on their cell phones while driving. New York | | | | oncoming traffic and collided with a big rig. While |
| was the first state to enact such a law. The only | | | | investigating the crash, it was discovered that the |
| exception to this law was that drivers could use | | | | driver had sent and received text messages in the |
| hands free microphones (or a Bluetooth nowadays). | | | | moments before the crash. All five girls died in the |
| Beginning on December 1, 2001 any driver in the | | | | crash, only a few days after they graduated high |
| state of New York caught talking on his or her cell | | | | school. |
| phone while driving would be issued a ticket for $100. | | | | Many counties feared similar crashes would take |
| As the first state to enact such a law New York | | | | place without a law banning texting while driving. |
| received a lot of attention. Eventually, several other | | | | Since, it was not going to be enforced on a state |
| states followed in New York's footsteps and passed | | | | level many counties took matters into their own |
| similar laws of their own. However, in the years | | | | hands. In 2008, Westchester and Nassau counties |
| following the passage of New York's cell phone law a | | | | were among the first to pass laws. Westchester |
| new communication trend began. Text messages and | | | | County started an education campaign in local high |
| the use of other hand held communication devices | | | | schools to inform new drivers of the law. County |
| were becoming increasingly popular. Unfortunately, | | | | officials felt the law would benefit younger drivers. |
| New York's Law did not prohibit texting and driving. It | | | | The younger, more inexperienced drivers were part |
| only banned talking and driving. | | | | of the text message generation and they felt a ban |
| The first momentous push for a Text Messaging Ban | | | | on text messaging while driving help new drivers pay |
| began in June of 2007. In Upstate New York five | | | | attention. |