Utah is passing the toughest penalties for those people who cause accidents while texting and driving. Utah now says that texting is "inherently reckless" and punish the driver as much as they punish drunk drivers who cause a crash. About time. Here's another terrible article about the dangers of driving while using a cell-phone.

Studies show that talking on a cellphone while driving is as risky as driving with a .08 blood alcohol level -- generally the standard for drunken driving -- and that the risk of driving while texting is at least twice that dangerous. Research also shows that many people are aware that the behavior is risky, but they assume others are the problem.

... Prosecutors and judges in other states already have the latitude to use more general reckless-driving laws to penalize multitasking drivers who cause injury and death. In California, for instance, where texting while driving is banned but the only deterrent is a $20 fine, a driver in April received a six-year prison sentence for gross vehicular manslaughter when, speeding and texting, she slammed into a line of cars waiting at a construction zone, killing another driver.