Give credit to the Maryland Senate, which passed Montgomery County Sen. Jamie Raskin's bill by a thumping 26-21. But the measure died in a House committee. Sadly, it will probably take a well-publicized, in-state multiple fatality to convince legislators that DWT is a problem here.

Dave Grannan, chief executive officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based vlingo, said Maryland's high rank in the DWT Derby probably reflects a high percentage of young professionals and college students. Nationally, the survey shows that more than half of drivers under the age of 29 text-message while driving.
—Michael Dresser, "Texting drivers: R U 4 real?," The Baltimore Sun, May 26, 2008

Nebraska is on the low end for text messaging. Nationally, 28 percent of the survey respondents admitted to driving while texting, based on the survey commissioned by vlingo Corp., which sells software it says will translate voice to text on a cell phone.

In fact, the practice has become so common that state legislatures have begun making it a traffic violation with its own acronym — DWT (driving while texting). ...

About 52 percent of respondents 20 to 29 years old report they text while behind the wheel, and 50 percent of teenagers admit to DWT, according to the vlingo survey.
—Nancy Hicks, "New roadway danger: DWT," Lincoln Journal Star, June 5, 2008

Police have linked text messages to more heinous crimes - from robberies and assaults to even murder.

A more common problem is DWT — driving while texting. And it's proven fatal on more than one occasion.

Just this month, a Tennessee man who was writing a text message in his pickup died after he lost control and careened down an embankment. And earlier this year, a 36-year-old man in the United Kingdom was sent to prison because he ran down and killed another man with his car while texting his girlfriend.
—Tom O'Konowitz, "Text appeal: Users give a (sore) thumbs up to cell-phone messaging," Chicago Daily Herald, March 17, 2005