Personal Injury Law

Driving While Texting or Driving While Intoxicated...Which is Worse?

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

Staff Article - Erin Mace.

We have discussed driving while texting, (or "DWT"), in a previous Missouri Personal Injury Law blog article, but I recently read an article that was titled, ?Texters, you?d be better off driving drunk? and thought this would be a good follow up.

On September 21, laws regarding driving while texting were the major topic at the Transportation Department?s Distracted Driving Summit. They discussed why cell phones, combined with moving motor vehicles, are so deadly. They also discussed why it has been so difficult to define this danger which is the root cause to many car accidents and personal injuries.

According to recent studies, driving while texting is more deadly than being legally intoxicated while driving. This study found that cell phone users had a much slower reaction time than those who were drunk. A test subject, with a 0.08 blood alcohol content and driving 70 mph, was made to break suddenly. He traveled approximately 4 feet ?beyond his baseline performance?. A completely sober subject performed the exact same test; the only difference was he was reading an e-mail at the time he was made to break suddenly. He traveled 36 feet beyond the baseline result. While sending a text message during the test, subjects traveled 70 feet.

In a recent poll they found that in 2009, Americans text 15 times more the number of messages than in 2005. Most drivers said that they would ban texting while driving, even though these are the same ones that admitted to engaging in this activity.

There have been many different ideas proposed for stopping people from cell phone use while driving. As we discussed in the previous blog, laws have been passed, foundations have been formed, and bumper stickers made. None of these things seem to be working. This is because the penalties are quite lenient, and the fines that are imposed are less than speeding fines.
Missouri DUI laws are some of the most relaxed in the country ? and they are still somewhat strict. DUI laws around the country vary from minimum fines of $200 to $1,500, license suspension from 90 days to one year, and jail time from 48 hours to 2 years. States with driving while using a cell phone fines typically are $20.00 for the first offense and $50.00 for each successive violation.

If driving while using a cell phone, in any capacity, is more dangerous than driving while legally intoxicated, why are the laws less stringent than DUI laws? How do the police officers enforce these laws that more and more states are trying to implement? The problem with driving while using your phone is a cognitive problem ? a distraction in the mind more so than a physical distraction. How do you regulate distraction while driving? At some point law makers will have to remove car radios to be consistent.

I am currently taking some Criminal Justice classes. My class is mostly comprised of police officers so I asked them these same questions and the majority responses somewhat shocked me. They said that the DUI laws are too strict in some aspects, driving while texting is a fairly new problem, the texting laws are almost impossible to enforce, and ? my favorite ? there is no need for these laws, as we already have laws that cover what texting while driving causes (i.e. swerving, running stop signs, speeding, and accidents).

They also said that they see more accidents from drivers messing with their car radios than messing with their phones. Some municipalities are adding what will appear as an addendum-like charge to a careless and imprudent violation. This will allow the fine to be raised but that is all.

Just as Missouri does not list ?driving with no seatbelt? as a primary offense, they will not have "driving while using a mobile device" as one either.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on October 11, 2010 (boomark / email).