Everyone knows not to text while driving, but sadly, many people do it all the time, which leads to car accidents and personal injury lawsuits. On this blog it has previously been discussed that a case is pending in New Jersey related to if someone not in a car can be responsible for the personal injuries of someone hit by a texting driver who was texting back and forth with them. Earlier this month a New Jersey court ruled on that issue: “We hold that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus be distracted.” The court has spoken. This has the potential to drastically change the legal landscape for distracted driving injury lawsuits nationwide. However, for the time being, New Jersey is the exception. But, states across the country (including Illinois) continue to toughen laws related to cell phone use while driving and distracted driving in general. As personal injury lawyers who deal with the consequences of distracted driving have been saying for years, there is a simple way to solve this problem, use common sense when behind the wheel and stop looking at your phone and focus on the road ahead. The cure for this problem is simple; this is not curing cancer. If drivers would simply put down their phones and make driving the #1 priority when behind the wheel, the roads would be a safer place, the number of injuries and fatalities would drop, and this country could focus on much more difficult problems that need to be solved.
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