States Continue to Ban Texting & Driving

More than half the states, 28 states, have banned texting and driving. In July six additional states will have texting & driving laws. Laws by state can be viewed on the GHSA website. The growing number of laws exist for a reason...it is simply not safe for people to drive down the road with their eyes on a cell phone. Too many lives have been impacted, or taken because a motorist thinks they are good at texting & driving. No one is good at it, and the risks are high. A ticket is a small price to pay. Seriously injuring someone, killing someone or ending your life is the real issue. #TweetSafe

Texting & Driving, a lawsuit waiting to happen

Previous blog entries have addressed how some companies are creating Safe Driving policies for their employees to follow, banning texting & driving. Some companies have a zero tolerance for any cell phone use behind the wheel. Use your phone while you are driving and cause an accident and your job is gone. If your company hasn't addressed cell phone usage while driving, it is only a matter of time. Why? Primarily, they want you safe, but also because if you are a distracted driver on company time, you are a liability. Anywhere there is liability there are lawyers.

Distracted Driving lawsuits are coming. If you are texting and driving and injure or kill someone, you are going to be in a legal battle. It won't be just a matter of your insurance fixing their car. Your life will be turned upside down, emotionally and financially.

Your insurance company will more than likely drop your policy, and if you are able to get insured again it will be at an eyeball popping price.

Palo Alto just settled a lawsuit where a city worker reached down to get his cell phone and rear-ended another motorist leaving him with debilitating spinal injuries. The city settled for $1.5 Million. The lawyers originally wanted $5 Million.

Full article: Palo Alto Settles Cell Phone Lawsuit for $1.5 Million

The list of reasons you shouldn't text & drive is growing. The days of getting in an accident and not having your cell phone records routinely checked are gone. Insurance companies will drop you like a hot potato once they fight the legal battle. And if you are a person with assets, those will also be on the table once a plaintiff goes through your policy limits, and umbrella policy.

Don't text and drive. Don't be a distracted driver.

Lawless Texas Sends a Loud Message

Texas has light rules regarding cell phone use behind the wheel. It is not legal to text and drive in a school crossing, and there are laws against novice drivers using cell phones behind the wheel. But other than that, seeminlgy it is is legal to use your cell phone behind the wheel.

However, a judge sent a loud message outside the boundaries of Texas when he charged a Jeri Montgomery, a 24 year old woman and sentenced her to 30 days in jail, 10 years probation and ordered her to pay a $10,000 fine for criminally negligent homicide. Additionally, Montgomery was sentenced to cover the cost of the funeral of the person who was killed in the accident. Montgomery also cannot drive until further notice, must write a 1,000 word essay suitable for publication in a school newspaper and 400 hours of public service.

She wasn't even on the phone at the time of the wreck but she was tried as a distracted driver. She had been on a call seconds before she caused a 3 car accident. Just prior to the wreck she hung up the phone, made an illegal lane change trying to get on the highway. The terrible result was a 3 car accident and the fatality of a 25 year old man.

The woman's father stated “There's a precedent that's been set here that is going to affect all of you,” he said. “Where does it stop? My daughter has been punished for a law that doesn't exist.”

So here is the take away from this blog post: Regardless of city and state cell phone laws, if you cause an accident and take a life your fate could rest in the hands of a judge. It seems likely that Mongomery will appeal the judges ruling, but for the foreseeable future her life will be spent with lawyers, and in court rooms reliving the bad decision she made which caused a three car collision and resulted in a fatality. Even if the ruling is reversed Montgomery has to live with the fact that she killed a man for the rest of her life. That would be a terrible emotion to carry.

Each day on Twitter people tweet "It is the last day I can LEGALLY text and drive, so I'm going to tweet all day." Or "My state passed a texting & driving law, but that doesn't include tweeting. LOL!!" Some people consider texting and driving laws a joke. The old "Catch me if you can" mentality kicks in for some. But this court case is no joke. It is going to live on and sets a HUGE precedent for other judges to call on when making a decision in a distracted driving case.

Understand that law or no law, if you reach for your phone while you are driving you are a distracted driver, and the results could be severe. Just ask Jeri Montgomery.
Full article

Law or no, it's simple: Don't text and drive

Law or no, it's simple: Don't text and drive is an article by Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald. Leonard Pitts' masterpiece on texting and driving has hard-hitting statements that should be read by everyone coast to coast:

"In the first place, you'd think you wouldn't need a law, that simple common sense would be enough to tell us it's unsafe to divert attention to a tiny keyboard and screen while simultaneously piloting 2 tons of metal, rubber, glass and, let us not forget, flesh, at freeway speeds -- or even street speeds.

"So, yeah, there ought to be a law. And it ought to have some teeth in it. On the second offense, maybe a hefty fine, or brief loss of driving privileges. On the third, maybe you earn a free stay of a couple days and nights at the lovely Graybar Hotel. "

Take a moment to click on the article link above and read the entire article, and then forward it to people who text and drive, and those who don't. This common sense article should be required reading for everyone of driving age in our nation as it reminds us that the only thing we should be doing behind the wheel is....driving.