Texting While Driving - Neglegence or New Evil

OK. I have just about had it! If I have to hear the same drum being beaten upon by the media of how horrible it is to text and drive, I am going to lose it!. Now, don't get me wrong, here. I am in no way condoning the act. I think it is as irresponsible as does the next guy. But come on already!
I can recall sitting in my driver's education class watching a video. A dude was driving in his car jamming to the music on the radio. A song came on that the dude didn't like. The screen fades to black and the white block letters come up on the screen, "Timmy didn't like what was on the radio..." It fades back to the video where Timmy is not paying attention to where he was going and messing with the radio. He looks up at the last minute. The camera shows a little girl turning her head as we hear the sound of screeching tires. The screen fades to white and now black block letters appear, "...so he killed a little girl!" The message was plain. Don't freaking mess with the radio while you're driving or you may hurt someone. Or better yet. Pay attention when you are behind the wheel period!
How is that any different from texting while driving? There is a lot of what I call statistical propaganda out there as well that states such things as ,"text messaging increases the risk of a car accident or near car accident 23.2 times when compared to the car accident statistics with non-distracted driver." (http://seriousaccidents.com/legal-advice/top-causes-of-car-accidents/driver-distractions/) Did you catch that last phrase there, though? A non-distracted driver. There is all of this fuss about texting when there are other things that distract drivers just as much. Here are some examples that I myself have observed while driving in rush hour traffic in Dallas, Texas.
Reading - as in books, newspapers, maps, etc.
Eating
Messing with the radio
Drinking a beverage
Pouring a beverage (Yes, that's right, I said pouring)
Disciplining children
Lighting a cigarette/cigar/pipe
Smoking a cigarette/cigar/pipe
Kissing a significant other
Rubbernecking
Applying make-up (which, by the way, according to www.telegraph.co.uk caused over a half a million car crashes in the UK in 2009)
Playing with pets
And the list goes on and on. The point is (and I do have one) that there are many things that that distract people from the task at hand, which, in this case, is driving. Distracted drivers is the number one cause of accidents, granted, but I fail to understand why everyone is making such a big deal about the use of cell phones. I understand that they are popular and in the spot light. But let's be realistic here. This is America, and everything is money. Somebody somewhere has to be making a buck off of this campaign.
And as far as new laws being made particularly for cell phone usage, (and here is another drum I am beating) there are already laws on the books for negligence. The last thing that we need is for lawmakers to give us more useless laws just so they can somewhere down the way line their pockets. Let's call a spade a spade. If someone causes an accident because they are eating or playing with the radio, let's hold them accountable for negligence. If they cause an accident because they were texting on their cell phone, let's hold them accountable for negligence. If they are negligent hold them accountable for just that.
It's called responsibility, folks. If lawmakers are going to make separate laws for cell phones, then they need to make separate laws for all of the other aforementioned items as well. Sound ridiculous? That is just how this whole texting while driving is of the devil campaign sounds to me. And, as I have previously stated but bares repeating, we don't need any more idiotic laws. Of course, this is just my point of view.