As members and residents of the Mt. Pleasant community, your personal injury attorneys at Howell Law are highly interested when the Town’s Council entertains the idea of enacting a ban on texting while driving; a topic that has been a major point of discussion on both the South Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog and the Child Injury Blog. (See “More Blog Posts” below to read those previous posts).
Early in November the South’s Oldest Daily Newspaper, the Post and Courier, published a brief article concerning the potential ban on texting while driving in the Town of Mt. Pleasant. To summarize many a concerned citizen’s thoughts on texting while driving, Town Councilwoman Thomasena Stokes-Marshall was quoted saying, “[t]here are an increasing number of people who are texting behind the wheel, particularly younger drivers who not only are putting themselves at risk but also putting at others at risk.” The risk, of course, the Councilwoman is speaking of are serious auto accidents.
It comes as no surprise that any distraction while driving heightens the risk of a car accidents, which can result in serious injuries to both the operator of the vehicle and other motorists on the road.
Your Charleston injury lawyers would like to bring special attention to the Councilwoman’s note that young people are particularly susceptible to the dangers associated with texting and driving, as well as other forms of distracted driving. Newly-licensed drivers need to develop safe driving practices from the outset, or risk developing life-long unsafe habits that put themselves and others in danger of serious injury.
The Mt. Pleasant Town Council has debated a similar ordinance in the past, but stopped short of a formal ban, according the Post and Courier’s article. The Town has decided to wait and see what State Legislators in Columbia do with a similar bill next year before enacting the ban in Mt. Pleasant.
According to the Mayor of Mt. Pleasant, if the bill banning texting State-wide does not pass the State House and Senate in June, then the Town’s ordinance will be put into effect in July.
Source(s): “Mount Pleasant to revisit ban on texting while driving”