Cell Phone Use Creates Liability Issues

While most states have resisted enacting laws that forbid cell phone use while driving, a high-profile wrongful death case has caught the attention of employers. An attorney returning from an evening meeting in Tyson's Corner, Virginia, was talking on a cell phone when she hit and killed a teenaged pedestrian. The resulting lawsuit could have tremendous impact on employers whose employees use company phones or make calls for business reasons while driving.

New guidelines have been designed that will help states collect distraction-related crash data; analysis will provide more information about how distractions affect driver performance.