Texting and Driving in Colorado

Should Texting and Driving Be Legal in Colorado?

Colorado has a new law on the books. The law increases fines and points for texting and diving, but it doesn’t specifically ban the practice. The way it reads, one might even consider texting and driving legal – as long as someone isn’t doing it in a “careless or imprudent manner.” Of course, that means the law is completely subjective.

In 2015, almost 15% of traffic fatalities happened in accidents related to distracted driving. This is a number that is increasing by the year, and it’s a serious problem on Colorado roads. Many believe laws surrounding the issue should be more strict, while others feel too much legislation is a bad thing. What do you think?

Do You Text and Drive?

With the recent law, Denver personal injury attorney Steve Roberts thought it would be interesting to survey Coloradans about their texting and driving habits. We posed a simple question to the 750 people who participated in the survey:

Do You Text and Drive?

The results were interesting:

The Results

By far, most people selected the option “Never.” 51% of all respondents said that they simply do not use their cellphones when they drive? Do you believe them?

The second most common answer, coming in at just under 20%, was “Only When Stopped.” Clearly, this is a safer option than reading or participating in a text conversation, tweet, or Facebook post while you’re moving down the road, but does it still negatively affect traffic?

Quite a few people asserted that they “rarely” used their phones while driving. This, however, could mean a variety of things. Do they simply look at texts as they come in while they’re driving? They may be seldom using their phones, but the few seconds it takes to read a message could result in a serious collision.

Nearly 6% of those answering the survey selected “Frequently,” the least common answer. Perhaps surprisingly or perhaps not, men were much more likely to acknowledge frequent texting and driving. In fact, males were almost twice as likely to admit to participating in the practice.

Wrapping Up

Distracted driving, particular through texting or using apps on cellphones, is a serious issue that should be addressed. However, passing laws that prohibit the practice can be contentious – as seen by the language added to Colorado’s new law. Where do you fall in the debate? We’d love for you to share this post and weigh in yourself!