An 18 year old was recently sentenced to 2 years in prison and a 15 year revoke on his drivers license for vehicular manslaughter by texting! Studies have been done that show the dangers of texting. while driving. It causes motor accidents and some say it can be more dangerous than driving drunk. Some states have outlawed texting while operating a motor vehicle altogether. A study in 2006 revealed that 37 percent of teens say texting while driving is extremely distracting and another study had 46 percent of teens that said it was very distracting. Some celebrities like Oprah Winfrey have done campaigns against texting while driving.
In May 2012 a jury in Corpus Christi, Texas awarded $21 million in damages to a woman who was struck by a Coca-Cola driver who had been on her cell phone at the time of the accident. The plaintiff’s attorneys were able to successfully argue that Coca-Cola’s cell phone policy for its drivers was “vague and ambiguous.” In June 2012, 18 year old Aaron Deveau of Massachusetts was found guilty of motor vehicle homicide by texting. He was sentenced to two years in prison and loss of his license for 15 years. Deveau was the first person in the state of Massachusetts to be convicted of motor vehicle homicide by texting, and possibly the first in the United States.