Idaho — Parents of the teen who died while texting and driving are fighting to have laws instated in Idaho to prevent similar accidents.

On January 14, 18-year-old Taylor Sauer was driving from the Utah State University campus to visit her parents in Idaho. During this late-night, four hour drive, Sauer was texting a friend on Facebook about the Denver Broncos.

While driving 80 mph down I-84 she sent a final text that read: “I can’t discuss this now. Driving and facebooking is not safe! Haha.” Moments after sending that text she would plow into the back of a tanker truck that was going 15 mph up a hill. Police say Taylor never hit the brakes and was killed instantly.

Ever since her death her parents, Clay and Shauna Sauer, have been trying to get texting while driving banned in Idaho, one of the 13 states in the U.S. that has laws against it.

The state has turned down texting while driving bills before because they say they already have an inattentive driving law that covers texting.

The Sauers counter that this is only effective if police actually witness a driver texting. They feel that an actual law against texting while driving will help future generations of kids not unlike seatbelt laws that were often met with resistance when they were first introduced.

“We all fought against seat belts, (but) now, everybody wears seat belts. The kids will be trained and learn from a young age that they can’t text and drive,” Clay told Ann Curry on TODAY.

I feel bad for the parents, I truly do. I also feel this law will pass but I just don’t see the point. She obviously knew what she was doing was dangerous so I am not sure how a law would helped prevent what happened anymore than the speed limit kept her from speeding.

What do you think… should there really be laws on the books specifically targeting texting when there are already inattentive laws in place? If you think so, why?