Text Messaging While Driving

Defendant appealed the trial judge’s decision to sustain the charged violation of G.L. 1956 § 31-22-30, “Text Messaging While Operating a Motor Vehicle.”  Defendant claimed that the trial judge’s decision to sustain the charge was in violation of the statutory provisions.  Specifically, defendant produced records of his text messages which showed no texts sent or received within the timeframe of the alleged violation.  The Panel reviewed the plain language of the statute, which states that “[n]o person shall use a wireless handset to compose, read or send text messages while operating a motor vehicle on any public street or public highway within the State of Rhode Island.”  The Panel noted that the statute clearly prohibits the reading of text messages, and that such activity would not be captured in the defendant’s text message records from his service provider.  The Panel explained that the trial judge was satisfied with the Trooper’s testimony that the defendant was observed holding and manipulating his cell phone at eye-level while appearing distracted, and reasonably inferred that the defendant did in fact read a text message, in violation of the plain language of the statute.  Accordingly, the Panel sustained the charged violation.

State of Rhode Island v. Jason Kilsey, C.A. No. T13-0056 (March 3, 2014).pdf