Head & Brain Injury Advice and Resources

Blog

State Bans on Texting While Driving Not Universal Yet

There are horror stories from across our nation involving distracted drivers who plow into an innocent person while texting or chatting on their hand-held cell phone. Sometimes the driver or passenger of the car they hit winds up with a permanent, traumatic brain injury. This what happened to a young man named D.W. Flanders in Massachusetts. Just ask his father newspaperman Ray Duckler at rduckler@cmonitor.com There is no excuse for any state to fail to adopt and strictly enforce a legal ban on this activity behind the wheel.

Right now only 12 states prohibit all drivers (including experienced drivers) from using hand-held cell phones while driving. Other states only prohibit novice drivers from doing so. Washington was the first state to pass a texting ban in 2007. Currently, 43 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands  ban text messaging for all drivers.  If you want to  find out what the laws are in your state or keep tabs on what is going on nationally click on http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html