Don’t Text and Drive!! Colorado Law States You Cannot Text While Driving

As of December 1, 2009, it is a crime in Colorado for drivers under the age of 18 to use any cell phone — handheld or not — while driving.  Also, it will be illegal for any driver to text while behind the wheel.

Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder said, “It is inherently dangerous to multitask while you drive.  “This bill is aimed at the most dangerous distraction commonly engaged in: text messaging and e-mailing while driving.”

The Denver Police Department (DPD) issued a training bulletin to its officers about the law, according to spokesman Sonny Jackson. He said that identifying drivers who are texting or minors who are talking on their cell phones would present challenges for officers.

“We have to look at this and see how it’s going to play out,” he said. “But we are charged with enforcing it, so we will have to do that.”

A series of serious car-related accidents, including one where Colorado high school senior killed a 63-year-old man because he was sending a text message while driving, and another accident where a 9-year-old girl was killed in Fort Collins by a driver on a cell phone, prompted lawmakers to consider placing more restrictions on drivers and cell phones.

“The convenience of having a cell phone in a car is not worth my daughter’s life,” said the mother of the 9-year-old girl killed by a driver on a cell phone.  She spoke during a February committee hearing on possible legislation that would restrict Colorado drivers from using cell phones. But the version of House Bill 1094 that passed and became law is much less strict than the measure several lawmakers originally wanted to pass. At first, Levy was looking to implement a sweeping ban on talking on a hand-held cell phone for all drivers.

The reaction time while driving a car and talking on a cell phone is close to the reaction speed and coordination of drivers that have had four alcoholic drinks, and you are four times more likely to be in an accident than a person who isn’t on their cell phone, according to the Colorado Democrat office.

A complete ban on cell phones while driving would surely face steep opposition in the Senate and possibly not pass at all.  Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, for one, argued in February that there are too many potential driving distractions for lawmakers to attack them individually. He added that the focus should be on teaching drivers to be responsible on the road.

“It seems we’re picking out one distraction because it’s politically expedient to do so,” he said.

Levy believes the lighter version of her bill is a step in the right direction, she last June, although she would have preferred a sweeping ban on cell phones for drivers.

“It is definitely better to have something than nothing.  It helps to raise the awareness of drivers that using their cell phone for any purpose is a hazard, and even though all we could get through was a ban on text messaging, I think that the debate has raised a lot of awareness about the safety issues associated with using your cell phone while driving.”

If you are involved in an auto accident when someone has been texting while driving, contact us for a free initial consultation as to what Clawson & Clawson can do to help you.