No Texting While Driving Starting Tomorrow
As of July 1, 2009 I will be alot less productive, but the roads will probably be safer while I’m on them. As of tomorrow, Virginians can no longer text while driving. This ban also includes reading texts and reading and sending emails. However, Virginians can still use hand-held phones while driving if they are over 18 years old. Drivers can also read and type if they are legally stopped or parked. I guess we will all be praying for more red lights! Today, I think I’ll work exclusively from my car and blackberry, just to get it out of my system.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this statute. It certainly has the potential to make the roads safer. But I think it will cause a lot of disputes in court about whether or not the driver actually was texting. I guess I should be happy about that, since I do lots of traffic defense.
I was on 123 in Vienna on Monday and the woman in the car next to me was TEXTING. Funny, but I never noticed anyone texting before and now it’s going on right next to me… ?
When I was a teenager some guy who “dropped his cigarette” hit me head-on as I was driving my mom’s car to the movies. My friend and I were okay, but the car was a total loss. It took about 2 seconds for him to stop looking where he was driving.
So, no texting makes sense to me. Yes, we missed the movie.