Jacksonville car accidents caused by texting drivers continue to rise. Some state lawmakers want to send a message of their own: Stop driving under the influence of your cellphone or BlackBerry - or be prepared to pay.
“It is impossible for you to drive with your head down and your thumbs on a cellphone,” said Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who will push for a prohibition on texting while driving for the third consecutive year when the legislature convenes in March.
The issue has earned a national profile, with news reports of text-related accidents varying from the tragic (25 people died in a California commuter train crash when the engineer sent a text message) to the troubling (a Hillsborough County teenager playing hooky from high school in May rear-ended a police cruiser as she looked down to type).
And the Florida Legislature has taken notice.
After no bills were offered to rein in texting and driving in 2006, five were filed in 2007.
This year, 11 bills were sponsored by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. The bills varied from prohibiting texting for all drivers to banning only minors from using the mobile devices. Fines would have ranged from $30 to $500 for repeated violations.
One of the bills, known as Heather’s Law, is named after Heather Hurd, one of two Polk County women who died in an eight-car pileup caused by a tractor-trailer driver who was texting.
In 2008, 15 people were killed in Florida and 1,400 injured because of distracted drivers. The state does not track how many accidents specifically involve texting, although Florida Highway Patrol crash reports are being reformatted to include that information.
“We know crashes are occurring due to this problem,” FHP Lt. Tim Frith said. “However, getting a driver to acknowledge it during the crash investigation is the problem.”
But despite the flood of bills this year, Florida remains one of 36 states with no law against texting and driving. While lawmakers have debated taking cellphones away from minors behind the wheel, the issue of texting from behind the wheel has not received a legislative hearing. As a Jacksonville car accident attorney I continue to investigate accidents caused by texting drivers. Our lawmakers must pass a bill to stop these accidents from happening. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a Jacksonville car crash call The Law Office of Henry Gare at (904) 387-6101