Texting while driving has been banned in 24 states already since 2007.  Wisconsin became state number 25 to ban texting while driving after lawmakers passed the bill on May 5, 2010.

Texting while driving and other examples of distracted driving have come under fire in recent months after hundreds of car accidents are attributed to it.  There has even been a national campaign done by talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who has spoken out against texting while driving.

Our car accident lawyers know how that many people believe a phone call or text message is more important that paying attention to the road, but that simply is not true.

Wisconsin makes text messaging while driving illegal within state borders.

Sorry, Wisconsin, but texting while driving is illegal within the state.

The ban on texting while driving doesn’t take effect until December 1, but since passing the new law, the hope is to also bring more awareness to one of the top causes of car accidents and doing something in your car other than paying attention to the road.

“This law really directs everybody’s attention to how dangerous this practice is,” said Jim Doyle, the Governor of Wisconsin.

While you can’t text while driving, you can still read text messages or surf the Internet on a phone.  Those are not banned by the new law.  However, Doyle and Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent David Collins said police officers will pull people over if they feel they are being distracted while driving in some form or another.

Wisconsin and Michigan are two of seven states that are either signing new laws to ban texting and driving or making the laws that are already in place stricter.  Other states improving or implementing texting while driving laws include Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Wyoming and Washington — which was the first state to ban texting while driving in 2007.

The statistics don’t lie.  In 2008, almost 6,000 people were killed and another half million were personally injured in car accidents where texting or another type of cell phone distraction caused an accident according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Our car accident lawyers in San Diego hope that more states follow the precedents set by the first 25 states so that, in time, all 50 states ban texting while driving.

Call us now at 1-858-551-2090 for a FREE consultation with an experienced San Diego car accident attorney or click here to submit your case for a FREE online review.