The state’s new laws for motorists have found a fan in Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie.

 

McDuffie applauded the host of measures regarding activity behind the wheel, including a ban on texting for all drivers, a prohibition on teenage drivers using cell phones while driving and a provision calling for all drivers to wear their seat belts. 

 

“Multi-tasking is not a good thing to be doing behind the wheel of a car,” McDuffie said. “You multi-task behind a computer screen. When you’re driving a car, you need to be concentrating on what you’re driving. There’s entirely too much traffic in Effingham County today to be texting and driving. 

 

“I think that’s one of the best laws we’ve had passed in a while,” he said. “If you’re behind the steering wheel of a car, you need to be concentrating on that steering wheel and what you’re doing with it.”

 

The laws banning texting and browsing the Web while operating a motor vehicle and on teens’ use of a cell phone while driving went into effect July 1. Sheriff McDuffie said his office is developing a policy against the use of cell phones and texting by deputies while driving a patrol car.

 

“It’s just as dangerous for us as it is for the citizens riding up and down the highway,” he said. 

 

Cell phone use and texting while driving has led to a number of accidents, according to the sheriff. He recounted the tale of a man who pulled out in front of a dump truck at Courthouse and Midland roads a couple of years ago. The impact struck the man’s truck so hard, it caved in his roof and left an impression of his hand and cell phone in the ceiling.

 

“He told us he was on his phone and did not see the dump truck coming,” McDuffie said.

 

McDuffie also is glad to see the provision on seatbelt use. He noted how Darrell Morgan, father of Neil Morgan, implored those at his son’s funeral to at the very least make sure they’re wearing their seatbelts. Neil Morgan was one of two teens who died as a result of a car wreck on June 28. None of the six passengers — all ejected from the vehicle — in had a seatbelt fastened.

 

Less than a week ago, another vehicle, with five passengers, struck a tree on Indigo Road, and two people were ejected. No one in that vehicle had a seatbelt on, either.

 

“If I’ve got a seatbelt on, my chances of staying alive are a whole lot better,” the sheriff said. “If you’re going to be in a wreck, the safest place to be is in the vehicle.”

 

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has asked the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office to take part in a “Click It or Ticket” promotional campaign. 

 

“I feel so strong about seatbelt awareness,” McDuffie said, “when they approached us about doing this poster, we were more than happy to help out.”

 

The sheriff, some of his deputies and others from Georgia will be in a televised spot being produced by the FBI office in New York City and the New York Police Department about seatbelt use.

 

But the sheriff also is at his wit’s end as to how to impress upon teens the dangers of texting, cell phone use, not using seatbelts and drinking and driving. He’s asking teenagers to help make sure other teens aren’t using their cell phones or drinking while behind the wheel.

 

“It’s going to take the young people to take responsibility to help police their own,” McDuffie said. “We can’t be everywhere all the time and stop every young person that’s drinking and every person that’s texting in a car. 

 

“We’ve pounded into them for so long, and it doesn’t seem to be doing any good. My question to them is what do we have to do as adults to get your attention to stop drinking and driving, to wear your seat belt, to put the phone down while you’re driving. They need to let us know what we can do to help. They know more about what it’s going to take to get their attention than I do.”

 

With seven patrol deputies on the road, the sheriff admits it will be hard to enforce the new laws. It also will be difficult to determine if a driver using a cell phone is a teen or old enough to be allowed to be talking on a phone while driving.

 

But he’s still hoping to get a unit dedicated to traffic enforcement on the road. McDuffie was pleased with the results from a February trial run of a traffic unit. He got calls from Effingham citizens thanking him for the concentrated focus on traffic laws. 

 

“I’m not going to turn Effingham County into a speed trap,” he said. “When I have to sit in a church for a 16-, 18-, 19-year-old’s funeral, that’s enough for me to know we need a traffic unit. If it saves one life, it’s worth it.”