Texting While Driving Ban Awaits Perdue's Signature

ATLANTA - Hundreds of students at Morgan County High School plan to hold a telethon Tuesday morning to petition the governor to pass Caleb's Law.

Senate Bill 360 was born last Christmas when 18-year-old Caleb Sorohan -- a student from Morgan County -- died texting-while-driving.

A teen getting their license for the first time always comes with a hint of fear for their parents.

"I'm scared for him to have his license. He's the first of all his friends to get it," said concerned mother Laurie Helton.

But now, with the rise in popularity of texting, it's the combination of texting and driving that scares parents most.

The good news -- a proposed law would make it illegal to text while driving. Senate Bill 360 passed in the house and senate and is waiting Governor Perdue's signature.

The measure, also called Caleb's Law, is named after the 18-year-old who accidentally killed himself texting while driving.

The hope for the new texting law would be that it dramatically decreases those incidents -- which according to the Governor's Office of Highway Safety numbered 6,000 deaths across the country last year.

Ironically, it's teens in Georgia who have been campaigning for the law to come into fruition - even petitioning the governor himself. Their hope is another family won't suffer another loss from unnecessary distraction.

"It is our hope that all Georgians will put down that cell phone and say you know what - now is the time to drive," said an official from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.