New Virginia Laws for 2013

The latest legislative session produced statutory revisions that provide for enhanced penalties for drivers who send or read text-based messages while operating a motor vehicle. Texting while driving is one of the most important safety issues currently facing regulators, traffic safety experts, and drivers themselves, and it's unsurprising to see revisions of this nature as awareness about the issue grows. Indeed, a recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truckers who text message while driving are 23 times more likely to crash or to get into a near-wreck than undistracted drivers!

Virginia law already makes it illegal for anyone to operate a motor vehicle while using a handheld personal communications device to send or read a text message or e-mail. Exceptions are made for the operators of emergency vehicles, for the reporting of an emergency, if the vehicle is lawfully parked or stopped, and for navigation or digital dispatch systems.

Under the new regulations, texting is now a primary enforcement violation (rather than secondary), meaning that a driver may be stopped for this offense alone. And the penalties have been expanded:  A first offense is punishable by a fine of $125 (up from $20), and second or subsequent offenses are punishable by a fine of $250 (up from $50). Further, drivers who are convicted of reckless driving face a mandatory minimum $500 fine if they were texting at the time of the offense. These changes take effect July 1, 2013.

This information has already been updated in the curriculum materials for your Internet-based program, and no action is required on your part. Of course, enhanced penalties aside, we encourage you to stress to students that—for the sake of their safety and the safety of others with whom they share the road—they should never text or engage in other distracting activities while they are driving.