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DOT Presents Sample Bill to Help States Draft Distracted Driving Legislation

The Department of Transportation has created a draft bill that it hopes will help states planning on enacting legislation against distracted driving.  The draft bill however does seem to come with a loophole that accident lawyers in California are concerned about

The bill has been prepared by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency invited the participation of auto industry experts, and the American Automobile Association to help in drafting the bill.  However, if you have a look at the bill, you’ll find that it contains terminology that may not do much to decrease the effects of distracted driving.  Injury lawyers in Los Angeles will specifically have a problem with this clause of the sample bill

The clause exempts fines and penalties for texting while driving for those motorists who

Receive messages related to the operation and navigation of motor vehicle, safety related information including emergency traffic or weather alerts, data used primarily by the motor vehicle or radios.

So in states that pass laws that contain such language, motorists will be exempted from fines and penalties if they receive incoming traffic alerts and tweets. Several states allow motorists to get traffic information via tweets on Twitter, the micro blogging social site that allows messages of up to 140 characters to be sent out to followers.

In California, motorists can sign up to get traffic alerts sent to them.  This has put two branches of government at odds with each other. On the one hand is the state transportation officials who want to make it easy for motorists to get easy access to information about road blocks and traffic jams, so they can plan their route. On the other side are lawmakers who worry about the risks of receiving such frequent tweets or messages.

Operators of such messaging services say that they insist that motorists must read the messages or tweet before they drive, and must not use the mobile messaging devices while driving. However, it’s highly likely that thousands of motorists won’t think twice before checking their mobile devices to read a traffic alert. The American Automobile Association insists that constantly reading messages can contribute to accident risks.

For those who would like to see less cell phone or smart phone use behind the wheels, allowing motorists to read their traffic alerts while driving may seem like a bit of an anti climax.  There are studies showing that incoming messages can be just as much of a distraction as actually typing your message on a mobile gadget.

The problem of distracted driving can be a complex one.  States like California have laws that ban cell phone use behind the wheel or text messaging while driving. However, fines and penalties levied on motorists who violate the rules continue to be light, and this makes enforcement of these laws harder.  Right now, injury lawyers in California believe the focus should be on better enforcement of the laws that exist.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of auto accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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