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NJ Court: Sending a Text Message To a Driver Could Make You Liable For Crash

Posted by Soulskill on from the pendulum-swinging-hard dept.

C0R1D4N writes "A New Jersey Appeals Court has ruled that both sides of a texting conversation which resulted in a car accident could be held liable. The ruling came as part of a case in which the driver of a truck received a text message shortly before striking a motorcycle carrying two passengers. The court ruled that while in this case, the person sending the text wasn't liable, they could be if the circumstances were a little different. '...a person sending text messages has a duty not to text someone who is driving if the texter knows, or has special reason to know, the recipient will view the text while driving.'"

2 of 628 comments (clear)

  1. With this line of reasoning... by chocho99 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...why not make the phone companies liable for transmitting the text to you while you are in a moving car. It's not like they don't already know where you are at all times.

  2. Re:Idiocracy by flayzernax · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Its the drivers duty to turn off their phone and ensure they are not distracted while driving. The responsibility falls on the drivers of the vehicles. If they cannot preform this duty. They should not be driving. We don't even need special rules or laws. Just hold people accountable for when they fuck up. Make it clear to everyone what will happen if you are not responsible.

    Suddenly people become more responsible.

    Also discourteous irresponsible people should get killed early in life.