OC man faces trial in text-messaging-manslaughter case

There is just no getting around it: text messaging while driving can never result in anything good. (A friend once joked that people who drive and text message are stupid – phones these days are capable of Internet and so much more.) Martin Kuehl, 41, of Costa Mesa, California is now facing potentially up to nine years in prison if he is convicted for gross vehicular manslaughter. On August 28, 2009, Kuehl hit and killed Martha Ovalle, 32, as she was crossing the street. The prosecution in the case contends that Kuehl was text messaging while driving and became inattentive resulting in the accident.

It was determined somehow that Kuehl did not send or receive a text message at the exact moment of the accident, but he’s still facing felony charges (requests to lower the charge to a misdemeanor, which is unthinkable, were denied). Why? For several miles prior to the accident, he had been text messaging back and forth with someone else. Perhaps he was anticipating the next message or looking at his phone at the time of the incident – we’ll never know. One thing is for certain: cell phone use while driving is absolutely illegal in California and has been proven time and again that it is unsafe. Why take that chance?

Perhaps now is a good time to take a look at that PSA from just a few weeks ago about the horrors of texting-while-driving.

Via the OC Register