Texting Takes 2 Lives
The car Marcus Johnstone was driving hit a power pole, killing two teenage girls, it was not speed or alcohol that caused the accident.
Johnstone, who was 22 at the time of the accident in 2004 in Victoria, was deleting a text message on his mobile phone.
The 24-word message asking him if he fancied one of the girls sitting in the back seat, cost the lives of two teenagers and in 2006 left Johnstone with a jail sentence of six years and nine months. He was the second person in Victoria to be charged with culpable and negligent driving for being distracted by a mobile phone.
Anthony Robinson, Johnstone’s lawyer, said Johnstone’s predicament was one many people could find themselves in.
”It was a terribly sad case. You felt terribly sad for the victims, but as his lawyer I felt terribly sad for Marcus because it’s a very easy accident to happen,” Mr Robinson said.
A senior sergeant, Peter Jenkins, said NSW police could search a driver’s phone if they felt it had contributed to an accident. If found guilty a driver could be charged with negligent driving and if a person was killed or seriously injured they could be charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
A survey in 2009 found 70 per cent of Victorian drivers aged between 18 and 25 admitted text messaging while driving.
”That’s a pretty huge number,” said Kristie Young, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the Monash University Accident Research Centre.
Drivers are being distracted not just by mobile phones. The influx of gadgets means cars are becoming mobile offices and entertainment centres.