Virginia Considering Texting While Driving = Reckless Driving

Reports indicate that the Virginia State Crime Commission is considering recommending to the legislature that texting while driving fall under reckless driving. Apparently, according to this article, a judge declined to find that a driver, who had been involved in a fatal accident, was involved in reckless driving because texting while driving is currently listed as a lessor offense.

"Many of us were puzzled by his legal reasoning but, in any case, if that's something that's happening in the court, we need to make sure texting is covered under reckless driving," said state Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, the commission chairman.

The Commission makes influential recommendations to the VA legislature - and will be considering this in a Dec. 5 meeting. The Commission can be contacted as follows

Patrick Henry Building
1111 East Broad Street
Suite B036
Richmond, Virginia 23219
FAX: (804) 786-7872
vsccinfo@vscc.virginia.gov

I could just go off on the number of times I have almost been hit or run off the road by someone with there head down and their nose in a mobile phone - teenagers running stop signs because they are talking on a phone. I have biked up Lee Hwy during rush hour at about the same speed as traffic - and watched drivers text the entire way up the road. It's because sort of a punch-buggy game - observe some driver do something really erratic - and then see whether they were in fact talking on a phone or texting. 

When you are behind the wheel, you need to be doing one thing: driving - nothing else. Anything else? It can wait.