Last month, 25-year-old Alicia Westgate killed Richard Webb, an avid 68-year-old bicyclist. New York prosecutors charged Westgate with reckless operation, use of a portable device for texting and failure to use due care. The defendant will answer those charges in Newfane Town Court on August 14.
The state of New York is one of the 38 states that currently have a ban on texting while driving. Last month, we reported on a landmark case in the Massachusetts, where a young man was convicted for 2.5 years in jail for texting while driving and killing a husband and father. Westgate is facing a similar road in her upcoming criminal trial (unless she pleads guilty) if the evidence reveals that she was indeed texting at the time the incident took place.
Studies on the dangers of texting while driving continue to provide more evidence that drivers should not be using their hand-held devices to text. Recently, CNN Anderson Cooper reported on a new study below:
Today marks the day Alabama’s new ban on texting and driving is officially in effect. As a result, anyone driving on the roads of Alabama can be stopped by law enforcement on suspicion of writing, sending or writing a text message. As previously reported, the state of Florida has yet to pass a ban on texting while driving and is likely not to pass a ban for at least another year.