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Utah law punishes motorists who text and drive
September 19th, 2009 by Kurt Niland
Utah set an early precedent when it recently passed some tough legislation against texting and driving. It’s a precedent that will inevitably pass in other states, whatever their political slant, because texting and driving has been revealed as an undeniably dangerous act — twice as bad as driving with the typical legal limit of alcohol in one’s blood.
Utah’s new law punishes drivers who cause a fatality while texting and driving as severely as drivers who kill others while drinking and driving. Crashes caused by texting drivers are no longer considered accidents in Utah. They are considered reckless and negligent acts involving a motor vehicle.
Anne Teigen, a National Conference of State Legislatures policy specialist, told the New York Times that Utah’s new law sets an example. “They have raised the bar and said texting while driving is not just irresponsible, and it’s not just a bad idea — it is negligent.”
Under the new law, people who are caught texting behind the wheel face misdemeanor penalties of up to 3 months in jail and as much as a $750 fine. Texting drivers who cause an accident that injures or kills someone can be charged with a felony and be slapped with a fine of up to $10,000 and 15 years in prison.
The only other state to pass legislation resembling Utah’s anti-texting law is Alaska, where a driver who causes a fatal accident because of an electronic distraction such as a television or computer monitor, may face felony charges punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Though broader, the Alaska law contains a provision against texting while driving.
It may seem strange that the toughest anti-texting and driving laws in the country would come from two staunchly Republican states, but highway tragedies propelled the legislation in both circumstances.
In Utah, authorities were able to prove with cell phone records that Reggie Shaw, a 19-year-old college student, had been texting his girlfriend repeatedly while driving on a rural two-lane highway in northern Utah. Eyewitnesses said that Shaw swerved out of his lane, clipping an oncoming car and sending it into the path of a truck hauling tons of horseshoes. Two rocket scientists who were on their way to work died instantly in the crash.
In Alaska, prosecutors successfully argued that a driver who was watching a movie on a monitor set atop the dashboard caused a 2003 crash which left two motorists dead.
