Turns Out It's Harder to Text and Drive at the Same Time
From the DUI blog of Lawrence Taylor, a nationally renowned California DUI lawyer comes this post about the relationship between driving while texting and driving while drinking.Apparently, people have started to realize that most serious traffic accidents are the result not of drunk driving, but of lack of attentive driving, most notably when related to cell phone use. From the Today show:
As a DUI lawyer in Seattle, this is something I already know and have written about before. See this post about teenage Seattle DUI and drinking emphasis patrols.Texting Could Be More Dangerous Than Drunken Driving
June 25 –This morning, NBC’s “Today” show featured a story on how driving while texting could be more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol. Car & Driver has developed a test to measure the difference in reaction times when driving while reading an email, actively texting and driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08, the legal limit. The test takes place on an abandoned air strip.
In terms of reaction time, both reading an email and texting were far worse than being inebriated for the older subject, Car & Driver Editor in Chief Eddie Alterman, 37. A 22-year-old intern also took the same tests and was quicker in all scenarios, with barely a variance between the three.
Instead of focusing on Seattle DUI emphasis patrols they should instead focus on at least educating the public about what a dangerous situation it is to text while driving and to try to get people to stop doing it.
But now that the seriousness of texting and phoning while driving is known, we should expect the Legislature to respond in kind with serious criminal penalties for doing so, just like DUI, right? Wrong. As Taylor points out in his post, some cities and states are enacting laws prohibiting texting while driving, but they don't have the teeth that DUI laws do.
For example, in Virginia, the penalty for texting while driving is $20 the first time and $50 the second time. And they can't pull you over for texting while driving - it is a secondary violation (they have to pull you over for something else and see that you were texting while driving).
Because I'm a geeky lawyer, I was curious about the texting laws in Washington, so I looked them up. RCW 46.61.668, the law on texting while driving in Seattle, says this:
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a person operating a moving motor vehicle who, by means of an electronic wireless communications device, other than a voice-activated global positioning or navigation system that is permanently affixed to the vehicle, sends, reads, or writes a text message, is guilty of a traffic infraction. A person does not send, read, or write a text message when he or she reads, selects, or enters a phone number or name in a wireless communications device for the purpose of making a phone call.Let me summarize for you. You can't text while driving. But you can't get in trouble for it unless you get pulled over for something else. And all you have to do is pay a fine. And the infraction doesn't even go on your driving record.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to a person operating:
(a) An authorized emergency vehicle; or
(b) A moving motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communications device to:
(i) Report illegal activity;
(ii) Summon medical or other emergency help;
(iii) Prevent injury to a person or property; or
(iv) Relay information between a transit or for-hire operator and that operator's dispatcher, in which the device is permanently affixed to the vehicle.
(3) Enforcement of this section by law enforcement officers may be accomplished only as a secondary action when a driver of a motor vehicle has been detained for a suspected violation of this title or an equivalent local ordinance or some other offense.
(4) Infractions under this section shall not become part of the driver's record under RCW 46.52.101 and 46.52.120. Additionally, a finding that a person has committed a traffic infraction under this section shall not be made available to insurance companies or employers.
Now, I'm not saying a texting while driving statute should be enacted that carries with it a driver's license suspension like a Seattle DUI, but in light of the recent research done, is it remotely possible that Washington DUI laws are a little over the top?
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