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Texting While Driving Kills Eight In Western New York Since 2007

With the recent nationwide campaign to end texting while driving, many wonder just how well the message is coming through, especially for teens and young adults. Last month, 22-year-old Mary E. Kavanaugh because the eighth person to die in Western New York because of texting while driving in the last three years.

Livingston County sheriff’s officials say that Kavanaugh was driving on Caledonia Road in the Town of Leicester when she lost control of her car and it rolled over, killing the only occupant. The police investigation that followed revealed that the young woman had sent a text only one minute before the New York car accident – and never opened the returning message.

While New York authorities can’t be 100 percent sure that text messaging caused the one-vehicle accident, it is very likely that the crash was caused because Kavanaugh took her eyes of the road and her hand off of the wheel to text. Seven other young people have died because of texting since 2007.

New York already bans texting while driving across the state, but many safety advocates point out that the law is a secondary offense – that a police officer cannot pull you over for texting while driving unless you are breaking another traffic law. If text messaging while driving were a primary offense, many argue, it would be easier to enforce and better discourage everyone to put down their phones and drive. Luckily, many counties and cities across New York are instating their own laws to make texting while driving a primary offense.

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