The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that distracted driving is implicated in over 3,000 traffic deaths in the United States every year. Add to that the fact that Mississippi roads are the second-deadliest in the nation, and you have a prescription for carnage without the strict enforcement of comprehensive distracted driving laws. Notwithstanding, Mississippi didn’t pass a distracted driving law focusing on electronic devices until March 2015, making it the 45th state in the nation to do so.
Mississippi’s Distracted Driving Laws
Mississippi bans texting while driving, and bans all cell phone use (even hands-free versions) for school bus drivers only. These prohibitions are among the least restrictive in the nation. Furthermore, individual Mississippi cities and counties are forbidden from passing local ordinances that restrict the use of electronic devices while driving.
Penalties
The fine for texting and driving in Mississippi is $100. Novice drivers (new drivers on restricted licenses) and school bus drivers can be fined up to $500.
In the Event of an Accident
Causing an accident through texting and driving or illegal use of a cell phone could end up costing you a lot more than a few hundred dollars, if you lose a lawsuit against someone injured in the accident. Since texting and driving (for example) is a violation of a public safety law, if someone injured in the accident can prove that you were texting and driving at the time of the accident, he can establish “negligence per se” against you.
“Negligence per se” means that your texting is considered automatically negligent under Mississippi law, and as long as it at least partially caused the accident, you can be held liable for damages. Even a defendant in a lawsuit that you filed yourself can use texting against you to prove that you were partly at fault.
When it comes to auto accidents, Mississippi is a “pure comparative fault” state. Comparative fault kicks in when an accident is ruled to be the fault of two or more parties (both drivers, for example). If two parties are at fault (one was texting while the other was driving over the speed limit, for example), they will share liability for the accident based on their own degree of fault. If Driver A was 25 percent at fault and Driver B was 75 percent at fault, for example, Driver A will pay 25 percent of Driver B’s damages, while Driver B will pay 75 percent of Driver A’s damages.
Possible Criminal Penalties
Texting while driving could be considered an ordinarily negligent act justifying the payment of damages to the other driver. If it is serious enough, however, it could also be considered a criminally negligent act justifying incarceration. For this to happen, your conduct must have been outrageous under the circumstances. Taking your eyes off an icy road for 15 seconds to compose a text message might qualify if a serious injury resulted. The same act, however, might not qualify in another court, because ultimately the question of whether an act was criminal negligence rather than ordinary negligence is a judgment call.
– Updated through September 1, 2016