The article linked in the OP said the charge is [Motor Vehicle Homicide](http://www.massmurderdefense.com/por ages/vehicle-homicide.html). So, I did a quick web search for it and discovered that there are two categories for it: felony and misdemeanor.
Felony MVH has you doing the stupid stuff while intoxicated by booze or other drugs and killing someone. Misdemeanor MVH has you doin the stupid stuff while stone cold sober and killing someone. Since the driver wasn’t intoxicated, it’ll be a misdemeanor.
The one story I remember: The girl/young woman or one of her passengers dropped a CD, so she started looking for it on the floor. While driving on the freeway. As I recall, no charges were filed because everyone in the car died.
I really, really, really agree with this. I commute an hour to work and an hour home every day, and it freaks me out how many ‘‘near accidents’’ happen all the time because of incredibly preventable things… speeding, tail-gating, failure to use signals, etc. In the two months I’ve been driving to work, I’ve been almost run off the road twice by drivers who failed to check for traffic before changing lanes… once by a semi truck! And I’ll admit I’ve freaked my own self out by my own moments of recklessness, and have really had to crack down on myself for those ‘‘little’’ distractions like fiddling with the MP3 player or whatever.
Automobiles are one of the most lethal and common things we have, and SO MANY TIMES the deaths could have been prevented. There is no excuse for this. If people are doing things like texting/talking on cell-phone or otherwise driving recklessly and getting away with it, then training is inadequate or rules are not being properly enforced. People are dying. It’s pretty obvious individuals are not assuming responsibility for themselves. Something should be done.
I worked on a report into Driver Distraction for the Victorian Parliament 3 years ago. The Report concluded from both Australian and overseas studies that the single most distracting thing for a driver is tuning in the radio. Other distractions included (but not exclusively) text messaging, having a conversation with a passenger and trying to juggle a mobile phone. Of course 3 years ago, mobile phones were not as common as today, so the study would probably turn up something different. A couple of years ago a woman texting a friend ran over a cyclist in South Australia, she was remorseful and received a suspended sentence for dangerous driving. Shortly afterwards, the laws were changed to make using a mobile at all whilst driving an offence, unless it was a ‘hands free’ conversation.
[QUOTE=VinylI’ve said it before: this senselessness will only end when all vehicles are equipped with mandatory electronic steering-wheel finger cuffs.[/QUOTE]
Mount the driver’s seat on the front bumper.
Texting is also a self-induced impairment. No one’s forcing you to do it, and if you’re looking at a damned keyboard, then you’re certainly not looking at the road. It’s a very weak argument to claim that texting is no worse than any other distracting activity (e.g. changing the radio, adjusting the controls, drinking a coffee) because those are typically very short interruptions (not necessarily safe, but very short) that require only limited motor control attention. Texting requires a completely different level of focus – you’re reading text on a small screen, comprehending it, generating a response and then having to focus on a keyboard for a prolonged period of time to respond. That’s a competely different level of distraction.
Nobody who’s being honest with themselves can text in a moving car and not think to themselves “You know, this isn’t really a good idea.”
(said before and will say again) the best piece of automobile safety equipment would be a mandatory 6" knifeblade extending from the steering column towards the driver.