Texting While Driving Will Be Banned in Georgia
Georgia drivers using cellphones and other devices to send and receive text messages often cause automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents and truck accidents which result in serious injury and even death to innocent victims. Not a morning goes by in Atlanta that Georgia injury lawyers don’t see people on the expressway texting or scrolling through emails on their way to work. A recent article in U.S. News & World Report stated that an estimated 20 percent of drivers are sending or receiving text messages while behind the wheel, according to a Nationwide Insurance study. It also said that according to another poll, that number skyrockets to 66% amongst drivers 18-24 years of age. Currently only two states actually ban texting while driving, Washington and New Jersey; however, similar bills banning the practice are currently pending in several other states.
The Georgia Senate has just passed Senate Bill 360 to amend O.C.G.A. §40-6-241 which will ban texting while operating a motor vehicle. The new statute which goes into effect on July 1, 2010, provides as follows:
“A driver shall exercise due care in operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state and shall not engage in any actions which shall distract such driver from the safe operation of such vehicle, provided that the proper use of a radio, or citizens band radio, or the proper use of a mobile telephone for purposes of engaging in spoken communication shall not be a violation of this Code section.”
“Any conviction for a violation of this Code section based on the use of a mobile telephone for writing, sending, or reading a text based message or other purpose unrelated to engaging in spoken communication shall be punished by a fine of not more than $150.00."
