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Over the last decade or so, numerous public service announcements, billboards, advocacy groups and news stories have sought to impress upon drivers the dangers of texting and driving. Even so, hundreds of thousands of crashes occur each year in the United States as a result of distracted driving from cell phone use.
Much like drunk driving and other kinds of negligent driving, texting while driving can sometimes be fatal, which raises the question: Can someone who texts while driving be charged with murder if someone is killed in the accident? In this article, we’ll take a look at the danger posed by texting while driving and answer this very serious question.
How Distracting Is Texting and Why Is It Illegal?
Laws regulating the use of cell phones while driving vary by jurisdiction, but those states that ban or restrict texting while driving often cite an 
increased risk of causing an accident. According to data from the National Safety Council (NSC), using a cell phone while driving a vehicle creates four times the normal crash risk. In the year 2013 alone, approximately 341,000 car accidents were attributed to texting while driving.¹
No matter what state you live in, authorities take texting and driving very seriously; in fact, 46 states and U.S. territories have banned texting completely for drivers of all ages. In the state of Texas, however, texting while driving is banned only in school zones and for novice drivers.
Regardless of the laws in a given state, it’s important for drivers to recognize the legal and physical consequences of becoming distracted and use their best judgment while in the driver’s seat. Causing an accident due to negligence is still a crime, especially if it leads to death.
Potentially Deadly Consequences
Passenger vehicles weigh thousands of pounds. At the speeds they travel (especially on the freeway), these vehicles can become deadly weapons. Research suggests that drivers can only safely look away from the road for approximately two seconds before the situation becomes dangerously inattentive.² Even a short text message, by comparison, takes an average of 5 seconds to complete.³ Those three seconds could be the difference between life and death.
According to the CDC, roughly 9 Americans are killed every single day as a result of crashes caused by distracted driving.4 The three primary types of distraction, visual, manual and cognitive, are all involved when a person decides to text while driving. The person has to take their eyes off the road (visual distraction), must type or engage voice-to-text with at least one hand (manual distraction), and composing a text requires the focus of thought (cognitive distraction). Because texting covers all of the major elements of distracted driving, it’s considered an especially high-risk activity.
Texting and Driving Can Lead to Criminal Charges
When texting while driving turns into a car crash, a driver can face a variety of consequences. If the accident is particularly serious (e.g., if someone is injured or killed), the driver at fault could be hit with major criminal charges and jail time. Below are just a few of the possible charges that can be brought against an individual whose texting is believed to have caused a car crash:
Vehicular manslaughter/vehicular homicide
Vehicular manslaughter is a charge in cases where one person’s unintentional negligence clearly leads to the death of another individual. In cases where the criminal negligence is considered especially severe or “murderous,” an individual may face a greater charge of vehicular homicide. This kind of charge is commonly seen in cases of drunk or drug-impaired driving, but it is also sometimes brought in cases where cell phone-related distraction has played a role in negligent driving.
To put it simply: Yes, texting while driving can lead to a charge of vehicular homicide—essentially, murder by car. If convicted, a driver could face years in prison, depending upon the degree of recklessness and the relevant laws in the state where the accident occurred.
Reckless driving
Even if no one is killed (or injured), a driver found to have caused an accident as a result of texting while driving can be charged with reckless driving. Again, different states have different laws regarding texting and cell phone use, so the severity of reckless driving charges and consequences can vary significantly. Regardless, it’s not something you want to have on your record.
How to Avoid the Temptation of Using Your Phone on the Road
Teens and young adults are especially susceptible to the temptation of cell phone use while driving, but drivers of any age can be guilty. With the 
constant pressure to stay in contact with friends and family and return texts as quickly as possible, it can be hard to ignore the desire when it arises. Use the following tips to help you keep your eyes on the road:
- Make it known to friends and family that you will not be texting while you’re in the car. When your contacts know and understand that you may not always be able to text back right away, it can help to take some of the social pressure off of the act.
- Put your phone into silent mode. If you can’t hear a text come in, you won’t be tempted to respond to it.
- Download a specialized application that specifically prevents you from texting while driving. By leveraging your phone’s GPS capabilities, certain apps are able to determine when you’re driving and can restrict your access to text messaging (with the appropriate permissions set, of course). Most such apps can be disabled fairly easily if you plan to text from the passenger seat—just remember to turn it back on before you get behind the wheel again!
- Keep your phone in a place in the car that you can’t reach while driving. By putting your phone out of your reach before you ever get behind the wheel, you’re physically restricted from using it while you drive. If you usually use your phone for music, consider switching to CDs, radio stations, or a separate mp3 player, instead.
- If you absolutely have to use your phone, pull into the nearest parking lot (or, failing that, pull over to the side of the road).
Seek Legal Counsel from a Professional Car Accident Lawyer in Houston, TX
When you’ve been involved in a crash that resulted from a combination of texting and driving, the experience can be stressful, frustrating, or even downright life-changing—especially if someone has been injured or killed. Whatever the case, it’s important to seek the help of an experienced auto accident attorney like those at SMS Auto.
The importance of having a knowledgeable car crash attorney on your side can’t be understated, especially if you’re a victim dealing with an insurance company that refuses to pay for your medical costs as a result of an accident. Our vehicle accident law firm has over 100 years of combined trial experience and has helped recover more than $720 million for injury victims.
To learn more about what a vehicle accident lawyer from SMS Auto can do for your case, call us today at (713) 574-5089 to set up a free consultation.
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