Incidence of Texting-While-Driving In Orange County Nearly Doubles Since Statewide Ban

On August 29, 2007, Jeffrey Woods crashed into a 14-year-old bicyclist in Huntington Beach, killing the boy. At the time of the accident, Woods was allegedly sending text messages, as well as under the influence of prescription drugs. Last December, he received a six-year prison term. On August 28^th of the following year, Martin Burt Kuehl allegedly sent four text messages and received three text replies before he fatally struck Martha Ovalle in a crosswalk located at the intersection of Westcliff Drive and Buckingham Lane in Newport Beach. Last spring, an Orange County judge sentenced the Costa Mesa man to four years in prison for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. In response to the increasing incidence of tragic accidents like these, explains an Orange County car accident lawyer, California enacted a statewide ban on texting-while-driving.

While the ban was initially effective—texting-while-driving dropped from 1.4% of Orange County drivers to 0.5% according to the Automobile Club of Southern California—by July 2010 the number of Orange County drivers surveyed by the Auto Club had nearly doubled to 2.7%.

The Auto Club attributed the increase to multiple factors: the rise in text messaging among the population (more than 822 billion text messages were sent in the last six months of 2009 alone); the inability of authorities to observe drivers texting because the devices are often kept in their laps; and the fact that drivers do not receive a “point” on their record for a texting-while-driving citation, only a $20 fine. Unfortunately, a proposed bill to increase these penalties was recently defeated in the Legislature.

How big is the problem? Distracted driving was sited as the cause of almost 6,000 fatal car accidents and 515,000 accident-related injuries in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Despite the fact that 19 states and Washington, D.C.  have officially banned texting-while-driving, this dangerous activity continues to be a pervasive problem in the United States—insofar as President Obama has prohibited all federal employees from texting on the road.

“Hopefully, additional penalties for texting-while-driving will be enacted soon,” remarked an Orange County car accident lawyer. “A small fine is not much of a deterrent for most drivers.”

The Orange County car accident lawyers at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis, and Leslie have written numerous articles and books on subjects relevant to personal injury law, including distracted driving. This information is free and available to the public by request. If you would like to inquire about an article or book, or would like to discuss your legal rights, feel free to call 1 (888) 834-5055.