Texting Could Be a New Chapter in DUI Law

While many people hear DUI and instantly think that someone was driving drunk, the true definition of DUI is much broader than that. Driving under the influence can range from drinking alcohol, to taking illicit drugs, and even to being drowsy while driving. All of those situations can lead to being pulled over on suspicion of DUI.

In the latest move of Arizona law enforcement officials to make the roads safer, they have begun cracking down on texting while driving as well. One particular valley attorney, Tommy Richardson, who has handled many cases of injury due to texting while driving, says that Arizona has some of the harshest DUI laws in the country, and it’s time to get similarly tough on texting.

He says that “Your attention’s actually impaired — with texting it’s divided, but it’s the same type of impairment.” He admits that he is baffled as to why even though the outcome can be the exact same, being distracted by texting doesn’t carry the same stigma that drinking and driving does.

“You can’t say that people who text while driving are bad people. You can say people who are drunk are bad people so let’s make a law against it and put parameters on the law,” Richardson said.

Unfortunately, while most lawmakers and law enforcement officers agree that texting while driving needs to be banned, it would be a nightmare to legislate.

Richardson expands on this by saying “unless you have an admission by the person who caused the accident that they were texting, you’re going to have to have police officers downloading cell phone information. You’re going to have to have cops prove the case.”

Many other metropolitan areas have put bans on texting while driving, but there are bound to be more laws coming down the pipeline to ensure that our nation’s streets are as safe as possible.