A large percentage of all car accidents in California are caused by distracted driving and one of the most common distractions is… you guessed it, cell phones.
This led the state government to implement a law that prohibits texting while behind the wheel almost two years ago.
But somehow, I think most California motorists have forgotten that the law even exists.
A recent test conducted by the Automobile Club of Southern California among 4,000 motorists in
Orange County revealed that 2.7 percent of those motorists were texting while they were driving.
You may say that 2.7 percent is not that big a number but we are talking about a small sample size of 4,000 people and is limited in Orange County only.
But if you think about it, out of nearly 4,000 motorists you encounter in Orange County more than 100 of them text while driving.
So the question remains, is the anti-texting law effective?
Data show that it is not very effective as there was even an increase in the number of texting related crashes in California after the law was passed.
The problem is that the law does not really punish drivers who violate the policy.
The current penalty is a $20 bill for a first offense and there’s not even a point added to the driver’s record.
Instead of fearing the penalty, motorists might even feel emboldened to violate.
Hey, it looks like if I have $20 I can text while driving as long as I don’t do it again when I am caught.
As a car accident law firm we should not even be complaining about it (hey more clients for us right?) but road safety should be everyone’s concern and if we see a problem, we should aim to fix it before it gets worse.
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