INCREASED PENALTY FOR CAR ACCIDENT DRIVER USING CELL PHONE
KSTP recently reported they may have had an impact in changing a law. Specifically, the penalty for causing a car accident while using a cell phone in Minnesota. Our car accident lawyers handle cases like this every day.
In November, a KSTP investigation found instances of deadly car crashes involving cell phone use for which drivers spent little or no time in jail or prison. State Rep. Keith Franke, R-Cottage Grove, reacted to the story. He introduced a bill to make motor vehicle crashes which cause great bodily harm or death, and in which a cell phone or electronic device was proved as a contributing factor, a low-level felony. This is similar to current DUI penalties in MN.
KSTP found relatively light jail sentences were being handed down by judges across Minnesota. This is because cell phone use while driving falls under the broad legal umbrella of distracted driving. Previously, to elevate a distracted driving case to a felony, prosecutors had to prove the cell phone was the key factor causing death or serious injury.
Rep. Franke said this broad definition of distracted driving ties the hands of prosecutors when they charge a case. It also limits the sentences judges can impose. “Nearly everybody now has a cell phone and brings it with them just about everywhere they go. We need to have the laws, and the penalties, adjusted to catch up with the technology. We need to make it a true deterrent like DUI laws,” Franke said. “This bill allows prosecutors to charge a low-level felony when a cell phone or electronic device is a contributing factor to a car crash that causes great bodily injury or death. It no longer has to be the direct cause of the accident.”
CAR ACCIDENT BECAUSE OF CELL PHONE CHANGES LIVES
Ryan Verdeck’s wife, Penny, was killed while biking on County Road 3 in McLeod County in April 2015. The 19-year-old driver of the car which struck Verdeck received a 30-day sentence and lengthy probation. The judge in that case said the driver’s use of a cell phone just moments before the crash rose to the level of ‘appalling negligence.’ The driver was only convicted of misdemeanor negligence, which Ryan Verdeck said did not amount to justice. He is now committed to strengthening laws, and penalties, where cell phone use contributed to a crash causing death or serious injury.
“It won’t bring my wife back and it won’t bring my daughter’s mother home again, but I am hoping this newly proposed bill becomes law. The statute should have some teeth in it. People will think twice before using their cell phone while driving,” Verdeck said. “And maybe, just maybe, another family will not have to go through what my family went through: Watching the party responsible get just a 30-day jail sentence for killing someone’s loved one.”
Car accidents where the other driver was using a cell phone has long been a frustration of our car accident lawyers. We have seen many serious MN auto crashes result from a driver on a cell phone. If you are injured in a MN car accident because the other driver was on a cell phone, call us. You can speak to an attorney for a free consultation. Our lawyers take these cell phone car accident cases very seriously. We will make sure you get all the compensation you are entitled to.