This week, the city of Galveston passed a rule that accident lawyers in Houston have been very supportive of. The City made it harder for motorists to place their lives and others’ safety at risk of an auto accident.

A new ban on texting while driving went into force this Wednesday. Under the new rules, drivers caught sending or reading text messages while driving may be ticketed up to $500. After Galveston, it could be Missouri City. This week, the city council there approved an ordinance that would ban texting and emailing while driving. The ordinance must be approved again, and if this happens, would go into force effective June 1st.

Texas has no laws banning cell phone use while driving or text messaging. We have been one of the few states to stubbornly resist any law. Around the country, 6 states already have bans on the use of handheld cell phones, and 19 states have bans on text messaging behind the wheel. Studies have confirmed that texting while driving can increase the risk of an accident by up to 23 times.

Not everyone in Texas will agree with those figures, and the idea of a ban on texting while driving is not very popular here. Regardless, as a personal injury lawyer in Houston, I would encourage motorists to avoid such risky behavior while driving. It shouldn’t take a law to get people to exercise pure common sense. Simple fact: When you are distracted, you are more likely to make driving errors, and cause an accident.

Do I believe a texting while driving ban would prevent the 30 percent of accidents that occur every year because of distracted driving? No I don’t. There are other distractions that can impact a person’s ability to drive safely, including passengers in the car, snacking, applying makeup while driving, and changing CD’s. However, we need to make a start somewhere, and banning texting while driving could be that firm first step we need.

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Image Courtesy: Flickr – kiwanja

Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.

For more info on how Vuk can help you with your potential case please call him at (877) 724-7800 or fill out the contact form on the right.

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