The threat of a $20 fine may not sway every California driver from using a hand-held cellphone when a state ban takes effect July 1, but a motorist who ignores the law and causes an accident could face huge civil judgments or even jail if fatalities result.
"If you cause a fatal accident and you are running a stop sign, speeding or crossing a double line, any additional violation would add to the possibility a manslaughter charge could be filed," said W. Scott Thorpe, chief executive of the California District Attorneys Assn. "It all goes to state of mind and your recklessness."
The cellphone law is moving the state into uncharted territory. Though other states have enacted such laws, prosecutors, trial lawyers and insurance companies say it is still too soon to measure the effects.
California already has been more aggressive than some states in prosecuting drivers for causing fatal accidents, even when they are not impaired by drugs or alcohol. Dozens of vehicular manslaughter cases in Los Angeles County alone are brought annually against sober drivers whose conduct is negligent, prosecutors say.
A cellphone violation during a fatal car accident may not be enough to bring a felony charge, but it could trigger a misdemeanor manslaughter charge, Thorpe said. Conviction on those charges can carry up to a year in jail for each death.
But other experts predict some even tougher outcomes.
"If somebody kills three kids in an intersection and they were on a cellphone at the time, I can see the driver being charged with a felony," said Stanley A. Goldman, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "Don't studies show that people are just as dangerous talking on a cellphone as they are drinking?"
Tom Higgins, a supervisor for criminal prosecutions in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, views cellphone use as clearly negligent behavior.
"It is a distraction issue," Higgins said. "It is negligent, not necessarily because it is a state law. Most statutes are set up to help us not be negligent."
A fairly widespread disgust has spread against driving and talking.
"I was rear-ended last year, and sure enough the driver behind me had a cellphone in her hand," said Craig Datig, an expert in California vehicular manslaughter cases who was a prosecutor in Riverside County for 24 years. "Now that it is illegal, proving negligence will be easier."
