Texting While Driving - Virginia Law Changes

Virginia law concerning texting while driving has changed. As of July 1, 2013, it is now a primary offense to text while driving. What this means is that if a police officer or state trooper sees you looking down while driving or gazing at a cell phone, they can pull you over to see if you were texting. Previously, the police could not stop you just for a suspicion of texting, there had to be some other traffic offense to justify the stop. The change in the law is probably a reaction to the increased number of accidents involving a distracted driver. I read recently that insurance rates for female teenage drivers are now the same as for male teenage drivers. The reason for the change is that the accident rates for the two groups are now about the same because female teenage drivers are increasingly driving and texting. And, they are having more accidents because of using their cell phones while driving. Personal injury lawyers always explore whether or not the driver who caused the accident was using a cell phone at the time of the accident. It is fairly easy to get the record of cell phone use from the wireless carrier. The penalty for a violation of the ban on texting while driving is $125.00. Francis P. Hajek Wilson & Hajek, LLC, a personal injury law firm Experienced Injury and Accident Lawyers Serving Virginia, including Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Staunton, Waynesboro, Greene, Augusta, Buckingham