Texting and Driving in Florida
Across the country, texting and driving laws are becoming stiffer. In the state of Florida, texting and driving was banned this past spring by the state legislature. Texting while driving causes thousands of deaths per year across the country, and it is starting to be taken seriously as a very dangerous action with potentially serious legal consequences. If your texting and driving causes an accident, injures or even kills another person, you could be held liable for the results and prosecuted. There is the potential for you to do jail time and face stiff fines if you are prosecuted in connection to a texting and driving accident. However, if you are found to have been texting and driving without causing an accident, it is only considered a secondary offense. The first offense carries a $30 fine and the second offense doubles it, at $60.
Types of Different Texting and Driving Cases
Most texting and driving accidents are caused by the 16-24 age group. But increasingly, businessmen and other professionals are also using their mobile devices to text while behind the wheel. Here are some of the different types of cases that texting and driving fall under:
- Drivers causing accidents in company vehicles
- Truck or Bus Drivers who cause accidents while texting
- Pedestrians injured by texting and driving
- Injuries to vehicle passengers and/or children
Who is liable?
So who is liable for the texting and driving accident? It depends on more than the name of the person driving the vehicle. If the individual driving is driving a company vehicle or driving on company time, their employer could be held liable and legally made to provide financial compensation to the injured, which could include but is not limited to medical bills and loss of wages. For the offending individual, this could also lead to potential jail time.