Employees who multitask while driving on company time pose a big risk to their employers. Employers can be held liable for an accident caused by an employee’s distracted driving, if the employee is acting within the course and scope of his employment. Now there is a new risk on the road: employees who text while driving. In the past 10 years, the phenomenon of texting has grown exponentially. In 2002, the average monthly volume of text messages was 1 million and by 2008 that number had grown to 110 million.2 Texting behind the wheel accounted for more than 16,000 deaths between 2002 and 2007.3
Contrary to popular belief, texting while driving isn’t just for teenagers. A recent study found that adults are just as likely as teenagers to text while driving.4 Nearly half of all adults who text admit that they have sent or read a text message while driving.5 Those texting adults could be your employees. In the face of this texting mania, Georgia has recently joined the growing number of states that are combating texting-related automobile accidents by enacting laws that prohibit texting while driving.6 To protect themselves, their employees and the public, businesses should implement policies to ensure that employees aren’t being driven to distraction by texting.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
