Texting and driving, texting and walking or texting when you are supervising children, most will agree it is dangerous and ill advised. Yet even in a country full of intelligent and reasonable people the instances of the consequences for a lapse in attention are obvious and in the rise. These truths in our society have caused at least one state to look into an accountability tool for law enforcement. New legislation proposed in New York sets out to use a new device, called a "textalyser", to help police determine whether the person driving was being unlawfully distracted. 

Under the legislation, drivers involved in accidents would have to submit their phone to roadside testing from a "textalyzer" to determine whether the driver was using a phone ahead of a crash.

Like a breathalyzer this device which the Telegram says is likely being developed Cellebrite, the firm that helped the FBI unlock the terrorist’s phone, will not breech the user’s private information. Instead it will read the meta data and tell when the last time was the phone was in use. Again, the idea proposed by the draft legislation in New York, would require drivers to submit their phones for testing, if pulled up by authorities.

In the article  Jim Grady, CEO of Cellebrite said: "We look forward to supporting DORCs and law enforcement—both in New York and nationally—to curb distracted driving."

"Reports indicate that 67 per cent of drivers admit to continued use of their cell phones while driving despite knowledge of the inherent danger to themselves and others on the road," the draft law said. "Therefore, it is in the state's interest to treat this impairment with a similar methodology to that of drunk driving."

The new law, known as "Evan's Law" is named after 19-year-old Evan Lieberman, who died in a 2011 collision caused by a distracted driver. His father, Ben Lieberman, helped to draft and implement the law through his awareness nonprofit  Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCS).

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