Texting while driving or “distracted driving” is getting a lot of press lately. California’s had its share of serious texting incidents, including last year’s Metrolink commuter train crash, and several recent car crashes attributed to distracted drivers.

As a result of impairment that’s shown by some studies to be worse than DUI, 10 states, including California, have banned texting while driving, while another 8 have laws that will be enacted between now and January 1st. Further, there is a movement in process to pass federal legislation banning texting while driving. Over the last 2 days, there was a Distracted Driver Summit in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. D.O.T. (Department of Transportation), featuring several U.S. Senators, including Senator Charles Schumer of NY, an outspoken advocate on the subject.

So, while all of this is going on, you may be thinking that texting while driving isn’t relevant to business, but that would not be correct. What would happen if a salesperson or another employee is involved in a texting accident while driving on company business? Would you be liable if company policies and procedures didn’t ban texting while driving? It’s already cost companies tens of millions of dollars (read here) and with today’s rapidly evolving and ever-changing technology, it’s important that policies and procedures are up to date with these changes in order to mitigate company risk.

Are your policies are procedures up to date? Need help getting your process documentation or company policies in place or aligned? If you do or you’re not sure where to start, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

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