Man Convicted for Texting while Driving

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Man Convicted in the State’s first Texting-while-Driving Manslaughter Case

Alabama State Senator Jim McClendon is picking up where he left off on his mission to end fatal automobile accidents related to cell phone usage. McClendon sponsored the bill to ban texting while driving many years ago, but he now admits that the law they were able to pass in the past is not effective or necessarily enforceable. He is now proposing a bill that bans holding a cell phone while driving. 

Representative Allen Farley is also in the midst of proposing legislation making it illegal to drive and “physically hold or otherwise support with any part of the person’s body a wireless telecommunication device or standalone electronic device.” 

Support for this type of bill has been building for a long time in Alabama. Fifteen states, including Georgia, already have similar cell phone bans and have seen declining number of related accidents and injuries.

Cell phones are often the cause or a factor in automobile accidents. If you have been in an automobile accident and believe that the other driver was using a cell phone when the accident occurred you may need an Alabama car wreck lawyer.  You should also should take the following steps to protect yourself and prepare for what is to come:

• Stay calm and try to record information about the accident. Write down the accident time because your Alabama car wreck attorney may compare the time of the accident with the others driver’s cell phone records. Tell the police officers the time the accident occurred and ask them to write it on their report.
• Talk to any witnesses and ask them if they observed the other driving using a cell phone. Witnesses may be able to testify to this fact.
• When you talk to the other driver, ask them, “Were you talking on your cell phone?” Any witnesses may be able to testify that they heard the driver saying, “yes.”
• You may request that the police officer check the other driver’s cell phone for their cell phone number as well as making a note of their last calls made and received.
• If the other driver refuses to allow the police officer to see their cell phone, then the officer may ask them for their cell phone number.
• Once you have received medical treatment, you should contact an automobile accident attorney. Your auto accident attorney may ask the court to legally preserve the other driver’s cell phone records and relate them to the accident time. This information can help you prove the case in court that the other driver was negligent due to cell phone usage.

Taylor Martino is a law firm serving Alabama and Mississippi. Our Alabama car wreck attorneys have more than 30 years’ experience in handling auto accident cases and we will happily provide a free case consultation. Contact our Alabama car wreck lawyers at Taylor Martino P.C. today!