Death by Facebook
Be wary of using your cellphone while you drive. A collision caused by doing so has been treated as a criminal matter in the UK
You see it every day in traffic, motorists driving with cellphones pressed firmly against their ears. But it’s an illegal act that could land them with far more than a traffic fine. London resident Wendy Thompson found this out the hard way after she slammed into a stationary car, killing its 84-year-old driver and seriously injuring his wife, in February last year. The collision occurred while Thompson was racing to a business meeting. Throwing caution to the wind, she applied her attention to her phone to send a Facebook birthday message while using her other hand to plug her cellphone into the car’s charger. A police investigation into the accident found that she would have had sufficient time to see the stationary car and avoid the collision if she had not been distracted by her phone. Thompson was charged on two serious counts: causing death by dangerous driving, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Last month, she found herself facing a judge in the Old Bailey, the...
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