Skip to footer

You call them 'rest stops,' New York calls them 'text zones'

The traditional rest stop is no longer just for resting... it's for texting. New York's new road sign program combats distracted driving by promoting 'texting zones' to remind drivers to pull over and text legally instead of while driving. 

|
Jay LaPrete/ AP Photo / File
A cell phone zone located near Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that road signs will advertise rest stops as 'text stops' as a program to combat distracted driving.
  • By Richard Read Guest blogger

The noble rest stop: an oasis of the interstate where weary travelers can relieve themselves, grab a soda, and do a few jumping jacks to perk up for the long drive ahead. 

Now, the rest stop is also the place to make phone calls and send text messages -- at least in New York State. 

This week, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new program to combat distracted driving. It doesn't require any office buildings, no new governmental agencies, just the addition of several hundred signs along the state's thoroughfares. 

According to a press release from Cuomo's office, "Existing Park-n-Ride facilities, rest stops, and parking areas along the Thruway and Highways will dual-function as Texting Zones, and signage will be placed along the highway to inform drivers where the Zones are located. A total of 298 signs will be located along major highways across the state, notifying motorists to 91 Texting Zone locations."

There aren't any special services provided at these "Texting Zones" -- there's no mention of improved cell reception or free wifi. As Cuomo says, the signs simply "remind[] drivers that there is a nearby opportunity for them to legally and safely use their phone."

But Cuomo's plan doesn't simply involve rebranding roadside stops. New York State Police have also beefed up enforcement of laws meant to combat distracted driving. In fact, over the summer, police issued 21,580 tickets for distracted driving, a 365 percent increase over the 5,208 tickets issued in 2012.

Earlier this year, those tickets carried a fine of up to $100 and put three points on the offending party's driver's license. Over the summer, penalties ramped up to fines of $150 and five license points. That's probably as good a way as any to make drivers put down their phones and pay attention. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to You call them 'rest stops,' New York calls them 'text zones'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2013/0927/You-call-them-rest-stops-New-York-calls-them-text-zones
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe