Illinois Texting While Driving Ban Goes Into Effect on January 1, 2010
Beginning New Year’s Day, it will no longer be legal for Illinois motorists to text message while driving. While this distracted driving activity has been banned in Chicago for over a year, the prohibition will now be statewide.
Authorities will be allowed to stop a driver if they suspect that he or she is texting. They also can look at your PDA or cell phone to determine whether you were texting, IMing, or online.
In the last year, safety and transportation officials have spoken about the dangers that texting while driving presents, including increasing a driver’s risk of causing a deadly motor vehicle crash. On Tuesday, the Obama Administration launched distraction.gov, which discusses the dangers caused by distracted driving. According to distraction.gov, the three main types of distractions while driving are:
Manual – results in the motorist taking at least one hand off the steering wheel.
Visual – the driver’s eyes are off the road.
Cognitive – the driver’s mind is not focused on driving.
Texting while driving involves at least two of these distractions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says over one-fourth of the 1.2 million auto collisions that occur each year in the US involve a distracted driver.
Our Chicago, Illinois car accident lawyers have blogged in the past about the risks of texting while driving and the statistics which support the claim that way too many people are getting hurt or dying because drivers can’t control the compulsion to send and receive texts just long enough to arrive safely at their destinations. We are hoping that more drivers will abide by this new ban and refrain from texting while driving.
Unfortunately, not only do many texting motorists forget that this seemingly harmless activity can kill people, but also they can be held liable for Chicago, Illinois personal injury or wrongful death if they cause a catastrophic car crash that hurts or kills another person.
Obama administration unveils new effort to combat distracted driving, DetNews, December 29, 2009
How to deal with the new Illinois ban on texting while driving, Daily Herald, December 28, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Scary statistics on teen texting, calling while driving, The Seattle Times, November 17, 2009
Cell Phone Driving Laws, Governors Highway Safety Association
Contact Chicago, Illinois car accident attorney Steve Malman.
