Around six billion text messages are sent in the United States every day, nearly equal to the combined population of the world. During a five-second interval it might take to read a text message while driving at 55 mph, you are essentially driving the length of a football field while blindfolded. Distracted driving is responsible for around 10 percent of Hawaii’s road fatalities, according to the state Department of Health. Hawaii, like every other state, has responded to this danger by enacted distracted driving laws.
Distracted Driving Restrictions in Hawaii
In Hawaii, all drivers are forbidden to text or use hand-held cell phones while driving, subject to certain narrow exceptions such as calling 911. Novice drivers (under 18) are forbidden from using even hands-free cell phones. A $200 fine applies to cell phone use and first-offense texting, while a $300 fine applies to second-offense texting within the same year as the first offense. A distracted driving citation will not affect your driving record as long as no accident results. The offense is primary — the officer does not have to witness you committing a separate offense before he can pull you over for distracted driving.
In the Event of an Car Crash Caused by Distracted Driving in Hawaii
A personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit judgment against is likely to turn out to be far more expensive than a distracted driving citation. You can be held liable for negligence based on distracted driving even if you are never issued a distracted driving citation.
If you are sued for personal injury or wrongful death, and if the plaintiff proves that you were violating Hawaii’s distracted driving law at the time of the accident and that your violation played a role in causing the accident, the plaintiff can use your violation of the law as evidence of negligence. You will not be considered automatically negligent on this basis, because Hawaii rejects the negligence per se principle that is applied by many other states.
If two or more parties were at fault for the accident (you for distracted driving and the other driver for driving at night without lights, for example), the court will compare your negligence with the other driver’s negligence and apportion fault on a percentage basis. If you are both judged 50 percent at fault, each driver will pay half the other driver’s damages. If either driver is apportioned 51 percent or more of the total fault for the accident, this driver will receive nothing. A driver less than 50 percent at fault will be entitled to his entire damages minus an amount pro-rated to his percent of fault (75 percent of his damages if he was 25 percent at fault, for example).
Criminal Penalties
Driving negligently is not a crime unless your negligence was outrageous enough to indicate callous indifference to human life or safety. Distracted driving could qualify as criminal negligence if it was done under dangerous circumstances (texting while driving through a school parking lot crowded with pedestrians is a possibility) or in combination with other traffic violations. In a worst-case scenario, you could be charged with manslaughter for distracted driving.
– Updated through September 1, 2016