New Ohio Texting Ban Could Affect Vehicular Negligence, Injury Cases
Ohio recently passed new distracted driving laws that may have implications for vehicular negligence, injury and even homicide cases. For individuals accused of vehicular negligence, injury or homicide, these new laws may help prove that the accused did not intend to injure the victim, by allowing them to more readily point to the victim's own distracted behavior.
Ohio's New Distracted Driving Laws
It is currently illegal for Ohio drivers to use their cell phones to text while driving. For adults, the new law is a secondary offense, meaning that drivers must be committing another moving violation in order to be cited for texting while driving.
The new laws impose even stricter rules on new drivers under the age of 18. For these drivers, the texting ban is a primary offense, meaning teens can be pulled over if police catch them texting while driving. In addition to prohibiting texting, the law also bans teen drivers from using electronic wireless communications devices in any capacity, including to write e-mails, play games or even talk, including hands-free use or Bluetooth use.
Drivers under 18 are also banned from using a GPS device that is not voice-activated or hands-free. However, teen drivers are allowed to use their devices to call or text in an emergency or when they are stopped at the side of the road.
New Distracted Driving Law Penalties
Adult drivers who violate Ohio's new texting laws commit a minor misdemeanor and are subject to a $150 fine. However, younger drivers face harsher penalties. A first offense for drivers under 18 is a $150 fine and a license suspension of 60 days. The second offense carries a $300 fine and a license suspension of one year.
For the first six months of the law's enactment, law enforcement will only issue warnings to drivers they catch breaking the new law. After that, however, law enforcement will start to ticket drivers according to the new rule.
How the New Rules may Affect Vehicular Negligence Trials
These new laws will help those accused of vehicular negligence, injury or vehicular homicide build a case that their alleged victim was behaving recklessly at the time of the accident.
For example, imagine that a fatigued driver traveling behind a white sedan on a two-lane highway. The driver of the white sedan is under age 18 and texting-now a primary offense in Ohio-and has to slam on her brakes to avoid rear ending the truck in front of her. The fatigued driver does not react in time to the white sedan driver's sudden actions and slams into it, the impact of which causes a serious enough injury to the white sedan driver for police to charge the fatigued driver with vehicular injury. The fatigued driver's defense could include the white sedan's driver's reckless behavior to show that her reckless driving contributed to her injuries, and that if she was not texting, she would not have had to stop short, and the accident would have been avoided.
Ohio's new laws strengthen the state's stance against reckless behavior and may help those accused of vehicular negligence, injury or homicide build a stronger defense if the victim was distracted at the time of the crash. If you have been charged with vehicular negligence, injury or homicide and believe the victim was texting at the time of the crash, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney who can use this evidence as part of a defense strategy.