This article briefly summarizes the current state of the law in Alabama with regard to car accidents caused by texting drivers, as well as proposed changes in the laws regulating smartphone use while driving. In order to recover compensation for personal injuries caused by a motor vehicle accident, Alabama law requires proof that the other driver was negligent.
"Negligence" means either a failure to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances or a violation of one of Alabama's "rules of the road". While several cities have enacted bans on texting while driving, the Alabama legislature has yet to enact a law that would make cell phone use while driving a violation of the rules of the road.
Smartphone use has increased dramatically over the last few years. While "texting" is the common name for distracted cell phone use, other uses are equally distracting, such as, emailing, searching the internet, playing games, etc.
Recent studies and statistics show that texting while driving, particularly popular among teens, can be as dangerou
s as driving while intoxicated. Notably, federal regulators have called for a nationwide ban on the practice. Armed with this information, the Alabama legislature is expected to propose a cell phone use ban in the 2012 legislative session.
Currently, as cell phone use does not violate the rules of the road, a personal injury claimant must rely on traditional principles of negligence law and argue that the other driver was distracted by their cell phone and such use is unreasonable under the circumstances.
If the Alabama legislature passes a statutory ban on texting, then an injured driver, assuming they can prove the other driver was texting at the time of the accident, will be relieved of the burden of having to prove the at-fault driver was "unreasonable" and can instead simply rely on the new statute as proof of negligence as a matter of law.
Other questions loom, however, as to the scope and breadth of the proposed ban. Most commentators believe a total ban will never be passed for all cell phone use, most notably emergency use. Nor does it appear that the proposed ban would include hands-free or GPS devices. Finally, most critics argue that the ban would be hard to enforce and that education is the better approach.
It remains to be seen how effective a cell phone use ban will be. But, with the passage of such a ban, car accident injury claimants will find it easier to receive compensation from the insurance carrier of the texting driver.
