New Kentucky Texting While Driving Law Could Lead to More Than Tickets
Kentucky's new texting while driving law is being enforced and comes with legal implications. In addition to receiving a ticket, if a texting driver is involved in an accident the new law could be used against them in a civil lawsuit.
The law, which went into effect July 1st, is currently being enforced by the Kentucky State Police although they are under a grace period and are only giving warnings at the moment.
Police say that nearly 80% of crashes involve some form of distracted driving. WHAS reports that studies indicate those who text and drive often exhibit similar driving behaviors to those driving under the influence. Texting and driving, as well as other forms of distracted driving, is dangerous and puts people's lives in jeopardy.
The new law, in addition to permitting the police to give out tickets, will likely have an impact on civil lawsuits as well. Lawsuits are often brought after car accidents as one party seeks to be reimbursed from another for the damages they suffered from the accident. Those lawsuits are almost always founded on the alleged negligence of the other driver.
Legal analysis by: Shawn Cantley , Shawn's Mail
In negligence cases, the plaintiff must prove four elements: duty, breach, causation, and injury. In other words, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed them a duty, breached the duty they owed, and that the breach caused the plaintiff some degree of injury. In cases where someone violates a statute designed to protect a certain group of people, such as the plaintiff, the violation of the statute can be used to establish the duty and the breach. This is often referred to as negligence per se.
Since the texting while driving law is a safety statute designed to protect Kentucky drivers and pedestrians, violation of that law could be used as evidence of negligence per se and will likely lead to increased liability for distracted drivers.
