New Yorkers have another chance to be protected from distracted texters, if the State Senate finds a way to reconvene and vote.

After years of inaction, the Assembly finally passed legislation a few days ago that would ban texting while driving. This important and potentially life-saving provision was included in a bill imposing tighter restrictions on teen drivers.

Last year, the bill passed the Senate but was held up in an Assembly committee. This year the Assembly passed the bill, but it now awaits action by the Senate.

New York State motorists are regularly confronted with careless drivers who attempt to read, type and send text messages while driving their cars and trucks. This type of careless behavior often leads to tragic results, such as the tragic death in July 2007 of five recently graduated high school cheerleaders killed in a devastating head-on collision with a tractor-trailer.

Analysis of the driver’s cell phone revealed text messages were sent and received on the driver’s cell phone directly before the crash occurred.

Nationwide, texting while driving has been recognized as a serious threat to the safety of motorists. According to a study performed by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, texting while driving impairs several aspects of driving performance, including reaction time.

A nationwide Harris poll found that 91 percent of Americans think that driving while texting is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated and 89 percent of Americans supported a ban on driving while texting.

In 2006, researchers at the University of Utah published a study in Human Factors, a journal published by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. This report revealed that the use of cell phones, particularly when involved with text messaging, renders drivers as dangerous as when they drive under the influence of alcohol.

While New York was the first state in the nation to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while operating a motor vehicle in 2001, New York still has failed to render texting while driving illegal.

Twenty-one states now have some form of texting-while-driving ban. In the absence of state action, 62 counties in New York State have taken the lead by banning texting while driving. It’s time for New York to protect its drivers.

The issue of texting while driving is not a limited one, as a recent Zogby poll found that 66 percent of the people between ages 18 and 24 admit sending text messages while they are driving. Our legislators are sent to Albany to protect our interests.

Let’s hope they realize their game of political chicken can have dire consequences.

Chris O’Brien is a partner in the law firm O’Brien Boyd, PC.