The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that texting and driving is about six times as dangerous as drunken driving. Talking on a cell phone increases risk as well, although by a lesser degree. Hundreds of accidents are attributed to these activities each year in Oklahoma. In response to this problem, in 2015 Oklahoma became the 46th state to enact a comprehensive distracted driving law specifically prohibiting certain uses of electronic device. The new law went into effect in November of the same year.
Distracted Driving Restrictions
Oklahoma drivers are forbidden from texting while driving unless their car is legally stopped (with narrow emergency exceptions), and they can be fined $100 for a violation. With added fees, the total cost comes out to about $211. Novice drivers (on restricted driver’s licenses) are prohibited from using hand-held cell phones, and they can lose their driver’s licenses if they are cited. You can also be cited for distracted driving activities such as eating (under another law) if they affect the operation of your vehicle. Individual localities, such as Oklahoma City, are empowered to pass stricter local ordinances.
Since no points are assessed against the offender’s driver’s license for texting, you cannot lose your license for texting while driving no matter how many times you are cited.
In the Event of an Accident
Since you cannot lose your driver’s license for distracted driving, a $100 fine might seem affordable – until you get into an accident and face a personal injury lawsuit. Since Oklahoma’s distracted driving laws are safety laws, once the person suing you proves that you were violating the law, all he has left to do is prove that your violation was a cause of the accident in order to have you ruled automatically negligent. At that point he will win the lawsuit unless you can prove that the accident was at least 51 percent his fault.
If you were mostly at fault for the accident, you will have to pay damages, but the amount you will have to pay will be reduced in direct proportion to the other party’s percentage of fault (30 percent, for example). If the other party was mostly at fault, you will pay nothing and you can even claim damages against him (also reduced by your own percentage of fault).
Possible Criminal Penalties
Like other states, Oklahoma distinguishes between civil negligence (which can cause you to lose a lawsuit) and criminal negligence (which can land you in prison and cause you to lose a lawsuit). Ordinarily, you will not be arrested over a traffic accident unless you cause death or serious injury.
The dividing line between civil negligence and criminal negligence, however, is fuzzy – because of the multiplicity of potential traffic accident situations, no one can say with certainty exactly where that line is. Does taking your eyes off the road for 15 seconds to compose a text message constitute civil negligence or criminal negligence? You might not find out for sure until a jury in a criminal trial reaches a verdict.
– Updated through September 1, 2016