Last year, Utah passed the toughest law in the nation banning texting while driving. Drivers caught violating the law are charged with a misdemeanor and may be sentenced up to three months in jail and fined up to $750. Texting drivers who cause a crash resulting in death face much harsher felony penalties: up to 15 years in a state prison and a $10,000 fine.

Utah lawmakers finally voted in favor of the state texting ban after hearing testimony from Reggie Shaw, a young man who was responsible for the deaths of two men in a texting accident. Shaw had just finished texting his girlfriend when he crossed the center line, clipping a car carrying two scientists on their way to work. The scientists’ car then spun into on-coming traffic and hit another truck, killing both men instantly.

Currently, 19 states, the District of Columbia and Guam ban all drivers from texting while driving. The majority of these states, however, do not penalize violators as severely as Utah. For example, drivers caught texting behind the wheel in California are subject to a minimal $20 fine for the traffic infraction.

Federal legislators also are considering passing a national texting ban. Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a ban on texting for all commercial vehicle drivers. In December an executive order went into effect prohibiting all federal employees from texting while driving government-owned vehicles and while driving their own vehicles on official government business.

These efforts come in the wake of several prominent studies that have found texting while driving to be the most dangerous driver distraction. According to a study out of the University of Utah, texting drivers have a 35 percent slower reaction time than non-texting drivers. A study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found drivers who text are at a 23 times greater risk of being involved in a car accident than those who do not text. In comparison, drivers who talk on a cell phone or who drive intoxicated have a four times greater risk of being in a car crash.

Law has Difficulty Keeping Pace with Technology

Despite the seriousness of Utah's texting ban, it may not be enough to protect innocent people from being harmed by distracted drivers, especially with the advances in available in-vehicle technologies.

Many of the current texting laws explicitly exclude the use of in-vehicle technologies, like global positioning systems (GPS) and phone integration systems, from the list of devices prohibited from use while driving. But how long before the available in-vehicle technologies are found to be just as harmful as texting?

At the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas in January 2010, the big automakers were busy rolling out the latest innovations in in-vehicle technology, dubbed "infotainment."

Automakers claim to have designed infotainment systems to bring the convenience of home computers into automobiles. For example, one car featured a 10-inch screen perched above the gear shift. The screen allowed the driver to view 3-D maps as well as high-definition videos and access the Internet. Some of the technologies, such as streaming videos, are not accessible by drivers while the car is in drive. But safety advocates argue that the other technologies, including access to maps or Internet articles, are just as dangerous because they require drivers to remove their eyes from the road. Models with varying degrees of this technology will be available to consumers in 2010.

Drivers Must Act Responsibly

The law is not well equipped to move at the same pace as technology. As soon as legislators ban the use of one new technology, a brand new one will come out. Moreover, the law cannot be used to ban every distraction available to drivers. For example, how can the law prevent a driver from day-dreaming, thinking about a family issue or a work problem while driving? The short answer is that it cannot.

The responsibility to drive safely falls to drivers. It seems a simple enough concept: drivers must keep their eyes on the road and pay attention to what they are doing and what other drivers are doing. In practice, however, this appears to be a concept an alarming high number of motorists fail to grasp.

In 2008, 275 people lost their lives on Utah's roadways. Nationally, nearly 6000 people were killed and another 500,000 injured in accidents attributed to driver distraction. Texting bans, limits on cell phone use and other technologies alone will not stop driver distraction.

Conclusion

If you have been involved in an accident caused by a distracted driver, you have legal options available to you, including the right to file a civil claim for damages against the responsible driver. For more information on your legal rights, contact an experienced attorney today.