A young man from Guilford, CT, was involved in a hit-and-run on July 24, and to his own admission, the crash was caused because he was texting while driving.

On the day of the incident, the 19 year old driver hit a walking woman with her dog and two children, but he failed to stop, assuming he had hit a bush.  He later told a police officer “that he never saw any persons and that he often is texting while driving and looks down,” the warrant reads. When asked if he was texting while driving when the crashed occurred, he said “yes,” the document says.  The woman was treated for minor injuries to her left arm and her hip, and her dog was brought to the veterinarian.

Police asked for the public’s help to solve the case and tips came in, including a voicemail that gave the car’s license plate and said the car was missing a mirror.

The young man was charged with evading responsibility, reckless driving, failure to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian and operating a motor vehicle while sending/receiving a text message. He was released on $500 bail and is due back in Superior Court in New Haven on September 8.

Texting while driving is an important issue for teen drivers.  A recent survey from Seventeen magazine showed that almost nine in 10 teenage drivers (86%) have driven while distracted, even though 84% say they know they shouldn’t, the survey found.  More than 1/3 of the respondents said they nearly crashed because of their own or someone else’s distracted driving.

Source: The Register Citizen, August 17, 2010

Related posts:

1. Texting driver caused city landscaper’s death
2. May 20 is deadliest day for American teen drivers
3. U.S. names April National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
4. Widow to receive $5 million in settlement for crash involving distracted driving
5. Cell phones account for more than 1,700 crashes in Texas