Legal News

Calling all drivers, using a cellphone could contribute to jail time

By Jason Siegel

California's ban on using a cellphone while driving includes more than a threat of a $20 fine - perhaps more jail time.

In a fatal accident where a driver is breaking a traffic law, additional violations add to the possibility of a manslaughter charge being filed that carry up to a year for each death, W. Scott Thorpe, chief executive of the California District Attorneys Assn., told the Los Angeles Times.

A cellphone using driver in a fatal accident could be charged with a felony, Loyola Law School professor Stanley Goldman told the Times, pointing to studies that show cellphone use impairing driving similar to alcohol consumption. (17 studies by the University of Utah's Psychology Department (2001-2008), the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University (2008), studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)

Other lawyers, including a supervisor for prosecutions at the L.A. District Attorney's Office, told the Times that cellphone usage would make it easy to prove negligence with the new ban - the plaintiff need not prove that hand-held cellphone use while driving was negligent, a judge could instruct the jury that such use is negligent.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 19, 2008 (boomark / email).