Illinois Injury Law Blog

It's probably not news to you that Chicago motorists are banned from any cell phone use behind the wheel - period.

And you likely know that wherever you are in the state, it's illegal to text and drive.
But on the national stage, it's an issue police, lawmakers and motorists continue to grapple with. And on a local level, it's an issue drivers too often ignore.

Our Chicago personal injury attorneys understand that despite the horrific crashes that sometimes result from distracted driving, the question of whether to ban texting and driving often comes down to enforcement. For example, how will a police officer know whether you are texting or simply dialing a phone number?

That's why some people are so vocal about an outright ban of all cell phone use for drivers. Such a move, they say, will eliminate any confusion.

But the movement may be losing momentum in some areas like Boston. There, The Herald recently reported that proposed bills targeting cell phone use among drivers aren't getting much attention.

Just weeks after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommended outlawing all cell phone use by drivers, lawmakers in Massachusetts met to discuss that possibility. They had already banned texting behind the wheel.
But just one speaker came before the committee to address the issue.

Sen. Thomas McGee told the Herald reporter that the lack of turn out was puzzling, especially given what a hot-button issue distracted driving has become in recent years.
“We expected this to be a much more attended hearing than one person coming in to testify,” he was quoted as saying. “We do get a lot of information. We do get a lot of feedback and hopefully we continue to get that.”

The national government has taken a strong stance on the issue, with the launching of the website, distraction.gov. There, the NHTSA reports that distracted driving accounted for 5,500 deaths and 450,000 injuries in 2009.

In other states, the issue continues to be debated.

In West Virginia, for example, The Charleston Gazette reports the governor's bill to ban all cell phone use by drivers is expected to easily pass the first round of committee hearings. Similar pieces of legislation have, in the past, failed to make it through that state's senate.

Meanwhile in Utah, lawmakers are debating whether their texting-and-driving laws go far enough. A ban was enacted three years ago, but Sen. Lyle Hillyard recently talked with a KSL TV reporter about what may be considered a possible loophole - the fact that the person texting has to actually hit "send" before it's considered in violation of the law.

There, those who break the anti-texting law face up to three months in jail and a $750 fine. If someone is killed by a texting driver, that penalty increases to a possible 15-year prison term and a $10,000 fine.

And in Arizona, it's one of the few issues both Democrats and Republicans both agree upon. One week into the session, four lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have proposed bills with varying cell phone driving restrictions.