This story actually happened over two years ago, on September 22, 2006. On this date, 21-year-old driver Reggie Shaw was using his phone to send text messages when his SUV went into the opposite lane of travel and clipped a Saturn LS2. The impact in turn caused the Saturn to hit a Ford F-250 pickup truck. The crash, sadly, took the lives of James Furfaro, 38 years old and Keith O’Dell, 50 years old. Both were traveling to ATK Launch Systems Group, where they worked as rocket scientists. Police records show that Mr. Shaw amazingly continued to send text messages even while they were questioning him about this fatal accident.
Although it took a while, two years and four months to be accurate, we now learn that an attorney for Mr. Shaw has negotiated a plea deal that will allow Shaw to plead guilty to negligent homicide. Under the terms of the deal, he will take a “plea in abeyance” where the conviction can be ultimately taken off his record.
Since the time of this crash, there has been much written about the dangers of driving while texting. We have learned that numerous innocent people have been injured on Utah’s roads because of motorists who allow themselves to become distracted by their cell phones. We are now looking at some proposed legislation that will make texting while driving a violation of Utah’s driving rules. Under the proposals, it will no longer be a secondary offense. So if an officer sees someone going down the road text messaging, that person could very well expect to get pulled over. Whatever proposal passes, hopefully the new legislation will go a long way to making our roads safer from those who are inclined to text while driving.
Published by: Ron Kramer
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