Hasta La Gadget!

Aug 29

Knowingly texting a driver could land you in court

Whose fault?

(Credit: WPIX Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

“Hey, I’m in the car.”

For some these words said on the phone — or written in a text — signal that communication isn’t a good thing at that moment.

For others, it’s just another line in the natural flow of needing to know where people are, but carrying on as normal.

Now, lawyers in New Jersey are trying to explore whether calling or texting someone who you know is driving makes you legally liable in the event of an accident.

As WPIX reports, a New Jersey appeals court opened the law to the possibility that it isn’t just the texting driver who might be in trouble.

Attorney Marc Saperstein, an expert in distracted driving cases, told WPIX: “One of the great arguments that my colleague made was to analogize that when you text, as the texter, you are electronically in that car.

It’s an alluring argument. It’s your fault that the driver was distracted, so you are guilty.

Some might say, though, that the sender has no idea if the receiver will actually read the text.

Perhaps an even simpler retort would be: So now we’re going to prosecute anyone sitting in the car who happens to be talking to the driver before an accident? Aren’t they dis… [Read more]