IL. House Passes Text Ban Reported by: Jewell Hillery Thursday, Apr 2, 2009 @05:36pm CST Please Select a Bandwidth High | Med | Low The next time you hop in the car you might want to think twice before picking up your cell phone. It's something many drivers do. You get in the car, you drive and you text. College student Matthew Alex says when he gets out of class he's on the phone and texting his entire ride home. "I think its easier than calling because its just your fingers, you can just text really quick and that's it." In the future those quick text messages could get you in trouble with the law. "If we see them we'll stop them and I'm sure to get the word out we'll probably be writing tickets there probably won't be many warnings," says Illinois State Police Trooper Brent Masingill. The Illinois House passed legislation banning the use of text messaging while driving. Offenders would get a ticket and repeat offenders could go to jail. Even with the possibility of getting a ticket and paying a fine, some say that won't stop them from texting and driving. "I'll probably still do it, not thinking about it, but I'd be sure not to do it as much," says Matthew. According to safety experts, 25 percent of police reported crashes involve drivers being distracted behind the wheel. "This one time I was texting, and I was looking down too long and I veered, I didn't get in an accident, but I veered off the road a little bit," says Matthew. Alex Villa, Matthew's friend says he gets about 150 text messages daily, but he waits until he gets to a stop before answering all of those texts. "I feel as if its a distraction, it has distracted me before in the past, I currently don't text and drive anymore," says Villa. The House's legislation now goes before the Senate for consideration. The House also passed legislation banning the use of cell phones in school and construction zones.