The City of Vicksburg has banned texting while driving for all of its 240 employees who are authorized to drive city vehicles. In a perfect world, the ban would extend to all drivers, no matter the age of the driver or the vehicle being driven.

Statewide, school bus drivers and novice drivers are banned from texting while driving, and bus drivers are not allowed to talk on a cellphone while driving. All positive moves.

What’s so important that it can’t wait a few minutes? If it is so important, pull over to the side of the road, text from a safe place and have a ball doing it. But texting while driving is a disaster in the making.

Studies have shown that a car driving 55 mph travels 100 yards — the length of a football field — in 5 seconds. The best way to avoid a traffic accident is to focus 100 percent on the task at hand — driving.

The National Highway Traffic Administration in 2010 reported that 3,092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. Those statistics include more than just texting.

The problem will arise, though, with enforcement. It is difficult to catch texters in the act and it is unclear what, if any, penalties would be faced if a city employee gets caught texting. It is incumbent on the employee to strictly adhere to this rule. In addition to a simple safety matter, legal consequences must be considered.

If the driver of a city vehicle causes an accident while texting or talking on a cellphone, the city likely would face litigation.

It’s an issue of safety and dollars and cents. Or is that sense?

We applaud the city for this move. And we ask the public to be wary of city vehicles with drivers violating this provision. Report them immediately.

This move will not end the national epidemic of texting while driving, but it certainly cannot hurt.