The North Dakota Department of Transportation estimates that 27 percent of all in-state road accidents are related to cell phone use. Even using a hands-free model significantly increases your likelihood of an accident. As a result of these dangers, in 2014 the state police began aggressively enforcing North Dakota’s distracted driving laws.
Distracted Driving Restrictions
North Dakota bans texting while driving for all drivers on all public roads. This ban includes the use of social media, computer games and other common uses of electronic media. Speaking on a cell phone, by contrast, is banned only for drivers under 18. Drivers under 18 are banned from all use of cell phones, including the use of hands-free models. Both of these bans apply whenever a vehicle is stopped in traffic. Like other states, North Dakota applies an exception for genuine emergencies. Individual cities and counties are entitled to pass their own local ordinances that are stricter than the state statute.
Penalties
The penalty for distracted driving in North Dakota is a $100 fine plus two points on your DMV driving record. The penalty for a second offense is a $100 fine plus four points on your DMV driving record, and the penalty for third and further offenses is a $100 fine plus a possible one-year suspension of your driver’s license.
In the Event of an Accident
$100 is not a lot of money for most people. If you cause an accident through distracted driving, however, you could end up paying much more than that, if you are sued for causing serious injury or death and if the jury finds rules that you were negligent. Unlike the law in many other states, however, under North Dakota law you are not automatically negligent just because you violated the distracted driving law – the plaintiff must prove that your act (texting, for example) was unreasonably dangerous under the circumstances.
If you were the one injured in a road accident, distracted driving also could come back to haunt you in a lawsuit that you file against another driver. Even if the other driver was at fault, he could reduce the amount of damages he has to pay by proving that your distracted driving was negligent under the circumstances. If he proves that you were, say, 40 percent at fault, he will be excused from paying 40 percent of your damages (and you will have to pay 40 percent of his damages).
Possible Criminal Penalties
If you cause an accident through conduct that was outrageous under the circumstances, you could be charged with a crime. In 2008, a 20 year-old woman was charged with negligent homicide (a felony) for causing a fatal accident while using Facebook. This conviction occurred even before texting while driving became illegal in North Dakota. Note, however, that causing a fatal road accident is not necessarily a crime – it all depends on your degree of negligence under the circumstances. If your degree of fault was only “ordinary negligence”, the worst you will risk will be a large damages award against you.
– Updated through September 1, 2016