Indiana's New Texting While Driving Law--What it means to the Driver

 ndiana's new "Texting while Driving" law went into effect July 1 and with it comes a new slate of "do's," "don'ts," and potential penalties for hitting those little buttons on your Qwerty keyboard while (supposedly) you are also keeping your hands on the steering wheel.

Actually, that's an overstatement, because the new law applies only to texting while driving. Technically, it does not apply to dialing a telephone number or playing a game. Unlike in some other states, it also does not include any kind of regulations regarding speaking on the phone while driving.

What it does do, is provide you with the "opportunity" to pay up to a $500 fine if you are caught texting while driving. This is applicable whether or not you have been stopped for this infraction or for any other. However, the officer is not permitted to confiscate the phone.

Perhaps more importantly, it is far less clear how this new legislation will affect those lawsuits involving "texting" drivers. Although the new law is part of a nationwide movement to prohibit distractions, certain violations of statute have not been permitted as evidence of negligence, such as a failure to wear a seat belt. However, evidence of a driver being distracted usually is permitted. The courts will likely permit evidence of violating the "no texting" law in the event the one who is texting is involved in an accident.

Indiana law generally assumes that the driver of a motor vehicle has an obligation to follow the state's traffic laws and when a safety statute is enacted, a violation of that law constitutes negligence per se. In the event of an accident, this makes the plaintiff's burden much easier if the other driver was texting at or just prior to the accident. On the other hand, if it was the plaintiff who was texting, his ability to place the fault on the other driver is significantly reduced.

Regardless however of whether or not a driver involved in an accident was texting, a jury must still determine the cause of that accident. As a comparative fault state, a plaintiff may obtain any percentage of the damages awarded consistent with their determination of what percentage of fault each driver bears--but only if the jury determines that he or she is less than 50% at fault.

So what does all this mean? It means that at the least, getting caught texting while driving can result in a significant financial penalty and the possibility of heightened insurance rates. At the worst, texting while driving is likely to be an important variable in determining the degree of responsibility in an automobile accident.