Maryland will join 17 other states and the District of Columbia on Thursday when its new state law that bans the sending or receiving of a text message while driving becomes effective.

This is an appropriate and long-overdue reaction to what has become a fatal phenomenon nationwide. Reports of deadly accidents caused by text-messaging drivers of motor vehicles and even mass transit operators and train engineers have become too frequent for our lawmakers to ignore any longer.

Texting while driving in Maryland will be a primary offense, punishable by a $500 fine, beginning Oct. 1.

A survey this year by AAA indicated that about one of every five drivers across the country had texted while driving in the previous month.

AAA said that before California implemented a texting ban in January, about one of every seven drivers had been observed texting while driving at any given time in Orange County. The number dropped to about one in every 25 after the ban took effect.

We’re telling you about Maryland’s ban three days before it takes effect so you can get used to the idea ahead of time and start driving without texting.

It may keep you or someone else from dying or being seriously injured in an accident that could very easily have been avoided.