Selfies, Distracted Driving, and the Virginia Plan

Everyone knows that it is unlawful to text while driving in North Carolina.  But what’s the legal status of all of the other distracting things people do with their phones?  Is it unlawful to take a selfie while driving? To post the selfie to Instagram? To look at a friend’s driving selfie on Instagram? To read another friend’s Facebook status update? To search the web for the latest weather forecast?  None of these actions is banned by the state law barring texting while driving. See G.S. 20-137.4A. Some may be prohibited by the statute that bars a person from viewing a computer while driving on the theory that using apps on a mobile phone renders the phone a computer. See G.S. 20-136.1. For the most part, however, the answers to the questions posed above are unclear. As a result, these types of behaviors seldom are addressed by law enforcement officers. Moreover, the fact that many of the hand manipulations that drivers perform on their phones may be lawful makes it harder for law enforcement officers to know when violations of existing state laws occur. The Virginia plan. Legal ambiguities of this sort are not unique to North Carolina. Yesterday, a legislative panel in Virginia approved a bill aimed at clarifying similar questions under its laws. The Virginia bill amends that state’s existing law banning texting while driving to make it unlawful for a driver to “[m]anually select multiple icons or enter multiple letters or text in [a handheld personal communications device].” [...]