Will you be laughing if “LOL” causes an accident?

Is any text really worth either your life or another’s? While the answer should be no many still find it hard to break the habit of texting while driving. Even greater enforcement of Massachusetts law which invokes stiff penalties for distracted driving due to cell phone use can’t seem to deter society’s addiction to being plugged in.

In 2010 Massachusetts passed a law that completely prohibits junior operators and public transportation drivers from using cell phones while driving, even if a hands-free device is available. Other drivers may be cited for distracted driving and penalized anywhere between $100 and $500. These laws were enacted to combat an increase in motor vehicle accidents due to cell phone usage and in particular texting while driving.

Most have all done the quick drop of the cell phone at the sight of a police vehicle while pretending to be changing the radio or something else that requires our eyes to be briefly off of the road. However, while that may help avoid a ticket, it does not reduce the chances that those actions may result in an accident.

Even though numerous studies have shown that texting while driving is as bad if not worse than drunken driving and an increase in billboards and advertising displaying the effects of texting while driving, many do not see the gravity of consequences as a deterrent. Many are at a loss to figure out how to best incorporate preventative policies that make us all safer on the roads, but that does not mean that they will stop trying. To them, all lives are more important than one last ‘LOL’ text that may result in the eternal loss of the texter’s audible laughter.

Source: enterprisenews.com, “Texting while driving a hard habit to break,” Carla Gualdro, Jan. 14, 2013

• Our firm handles situations similar to those discussed in this post. To learn more about our practice, please visit our Boston auto-accidents page.