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Texting While Driving Now Illegal in Virginia
July 01, 2009
Topic: Virginia Legal News
The Virginia General Assembly has made it unlawful, as of July 1, 2009, to either text or email while driving in Virginia. Motorists who do so will be violating the law and will face a $20 fine for the first offense and $50 for a second.
There are several exceptions to the law, including emergency vehicle drivers, drivers reporting an emergency or drivers who are parked, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Texting or e-mailing while driving will be a secondary offense, meaning that a law enforcement officer must have stopped or arrested the offending driver for another reason. Stopping a driver only for texting or emailing while driving is not permissible.
The DMV reports that 28,395 crashes occurred in Virginia last year that involved driver distraction. Of those, 114 people died and 14,480 were injured.
What isn't clear is how police will be able to prove that a driver was texting or emailing, as opposed to dialing the phone (which is still legal).
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