Will Ohio Use Radar Gun To Detect Ohio Texting And Driving And Reduce Ohio Distracted Driving Accidents?
Ohio Texting While Driving is illegal and is the cause of many distracted driving accidents in Ohio
While Ohio texting and driving is an illegal form of distracted driving and the cause of many Ohio accidents, it is only a secondary offense for adult drivers and difficult for law enforcement to enforce under the current Ohio texting laws. Teen texting and driving on the other hand is a primary offense, but it can be a challenge to identify if a teen is texting while on the road. One company has stated that they hope to solve the problem of distracted driving and accidents in Ohio by creating a radar gun that can detect when a person is texting.
The United States Department of Transportation estimates that 1.6 million distracted driving accidents occur each year as a result of improper texting and driving use on the road. Cell phone use and texting accounts for nearly 6,000 deaths each year. The Virginia-based company, ComSonics, is planning to prevent some of these accidents with its new product currently in development. The radar-like device would determine if a driver was texting. [https://www.whiznews.com/content/news/local/2014/10/22/possible-radar-gun-to-detect-texting-and-driving, November 2014]
Since Ohio texting and driving is currently still a secondary offence, the Ohio State Highway Patrol states that Ohio would have to upgrade texting while driving to a primary offense before officers could use this new technology when released to the public market. Muskingum County Sheriff told Whiz News, “There are always things like that on the horizon and as I said, our goal is to keep the streets as safe as possible. So anything that comes in or comes out that we can utilize, we are definitely going to take a serious look at.” Many parents of teen drivers expressed to Whiz News that they supported the idea of a texting radar gun.
However, some Ohio residents are not as positive about the potential use of the device. According to some Ohio residents, a texting gun could be seen as an invasion of privacy. ComSonics has not released how the device works, such as if it would intercept the texts and potentially read private data, or if it would simply detect that a cell phone was turned on, which could end in false texting accusations. Some Ohio residents hope the use of a texting gun would drastically cut down on the number of distracted driving accidents in Ohio. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, in 2013, Ohio saw nearly 400 distracted driving-related crashes, which resulted in 6 fatalities and 121 injuries. Between 2009 and 2011 before Ohio implemented its new texting law, there were over 30,000 distracted driving-related crashes and 74 fatalities. [http://www.the-daily-record.com/local%20news/2014/03/06/texting-while-driving-statistics-released, November 2014] [http://statepatrol.ohio.gov/doc/Distracted_Driving_Bulletin_2012.pdf, April, 2012]
According to ComSonics, the company does not have a market-ready product as of November 2014. The company plans to examine a variety of additional variables before the product is released. Some of the problems ComSonics plan to address is if the device can identify the difference between written and voice texts, if the text was an auto responder, or be able to tell if a passenger was sending the text message.
Wright & Schulte LLC has successfully represented many victims of Ohio auto accidents and negligence lawsuits. To speak with a an experienced Ohio car accident attorney contact wright & Schulte LLC for a free legal consultation by calling 1-800-399-0795 or visit www.yourohiolegalhelp.com for more information.
Contact:
Wright & Schulte LLC
865 S. Dixie Dr.
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