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8/4/2009
Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton
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Weak Link in the Virginia Law Against Texting While Driving

Virginia lawmakers passed new citations on texting while driving in the Commonwealth. The law received bi-partisan support along with a boost from recent studies performed by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute indicating a dramatic increase in the risk of injury when texting while driving. Unfortunately, when you examine the details of the law, it's not as strong as it should be.

A $20 dollar fine is for first-time offenders and a $50 dollar fine is levied on second-time offenders. But here's the kicker: A police officer cannot pull someone over just for texting while driving. The only time these fines can be administered is when the police officer pulls someone over for another violation, according to ABC News.

This means if a police officer is on patrol and sees someone texting while driving, they can't pull that individual over immediately. The driver must be in violation of another law. This does not make sense. Furthermore, it incentivizes police officers to conjure up false reasons to pull someone over in order to administer a texting while driving citation.

As an injury lawyer who's represented clients severely hurt in major car accidents , I believe the law needs to be stricter and officers should have the ability to pull someone over upon immediate sight of texting while driving.

Our firm has written extensively about the dangers associated with texting while operating a vehicle. The risks are far too high to continue with an ineffectual law. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports driver inattention played a part in four-fifths of all motor vehicle crashes. With those types of numbers, a tougher law is necessary.

PA

Category: Car Accident Lawyers & Motorcycle Accident Attorneys

Labels: accident Accidents car driving injury lawyer text texting Virginia


 

Best Injury Lawyers in Virginiainjury, lawyer

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia Beach, VA-based injury law firm whose attorneys focus on personal injury and accident law and we have handled thousands of car accident, truck wreck, and motorcycle crash cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself.

We've handled car accident cases throughout Virginia including Richmond, Fairfax, Alexandria, and the Hampton Roads region including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Suffolk.

Our primary office is in Virginia Beach at the intersection of Diamond Springs Road and Northampton Boulevard. We also have an office on Eaton Street in Hampton. All of our accident injury attorneys were raised in Virginia and have deep roots with the community.

Our Virginia injury law firm has been recognized as one of the best injury law firms in Virginia by U.S. News & World Report since 2010. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed on the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009 and included among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Rick and Jim were named Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law since 2010, an honor fewer than 5 percent of lawyers receive. In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms.

We also offer free special reports on distracted driving and the Best Guide to Car Accident Injuries in Virginia.

While not every injury case meets our criteria, we offer a free, initial confidential injury case consultation, so call us at 1-800-752-0042. If you cannot get through due to high call volume, please leave a voicemail and we will get back to you shortly.




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