A woman who repeatedly texted her boyfriend, while she knew he was driving, and who ultimately crossed traffic and crashed into motorcyclists, cannot be added to a civil lawsuit according to a Superior Court judge in Morristown, New Jersey.

The plaintiffs' lawyer argued that the girlfriend's conduct contributed to the accident that cost his clients their legs. The woman's lawyer argued that while she sent the messages, it was ultimately her boyfriend's responsibility to control when he looked at them and when he responded to them.

The boyfriend plead guilty to three violations of the motor vehicle code, including driving while using a mobile device. He's now being sued in civil court.

Skippy Weinstein, the Kuberts' lawyer, argues Colonna was "electronically present" in the crash. He says she should have known Best was driving home as they exchanged text messages leading up to the crash. She says she "may have known" he was driving.

"What I find interesting was her testimony at depositions was that she answered by saying, 'This is what teenagers do,'" Weinstein said.

The judge disagreed. This time. But the term "electronically present" is going to be something interesting to watch in the coming years.

Can you be "electronically present" at an accident? At a robbery? At a homicide? During civil disobedience? As a witness?

We've often discussed how our devices know who we are, where we are, and often what we're doing. They allow us to communicate almost instantly from across the room or halfway around the world. You can text significant others, FaceTime grandparents, Skype colleagues.

How soon will it be before that technology becomes par for the course in civil and criminal matters?

This week, in New Jersey, a judged ruled a woman couldn't be sued for texting her boyfriend while she new he was driving, and when he ultimately drove his truck into two motorcyclists, What about in the months and years ahead? How long until the law and technology becomes such that "electronically present" is held as the equivalent to "physically present"?

Source: KKTV via @philnickinson

Getting ready to take the written driving exam to get or renew your license? For many of us, this exam is very stressful and difficult to pass since it always asks questions involving scenarios that we don't regularly encounter. With DMV Genius, you can study for this exam while on the go.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation has refused to work with the National Transportation Safety Board's proposal to ban the use of the iPhone and other smartphones in cars.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he won't back a proposal to prohibit drivers from talking on cellphones, even hands-free devices, giving a boost to car makers and mobile-phone companies that stand to lose if regulators impose a ban.

According to our cross-site Mobile Nations network poll, the majority of TiPb, Android Central, and CrackBerry.com readers say there needed to be a middle ground on the issue. Given that most smartphones have the ability to run software designed to support driving tasks, like turn-by-turn navigation, this makes a lot of sense. Still, preventing drivers from performing distracting tasks like sending SMS messages or playing Angry Birds remains an issue.

Source: WSJ

The safety recommendation specifically calls for the 50 states and the District of Columbia to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task) for all drivers. The safety recommendation also urges use of the NHTSA model of high-visibility enforcement to support these bans and implementation of targeted communication campaigns to inform motorists of the new law and heightened enforcement.

The trouble is, smartphones can run software designed to support driving tasks, but they can also run highly distracting software like SMS/IM or Angry Birds.

And, of course, it does nothing to deal with other driver distractions like food, makeup, reading papers while driving, etc. etc. (Sadly it's very touch to draft a "don't be dumb and drive law", so they fall for easy-to-identify blanket bans.)

We're co-opting our sibling site, Android Central's poll on this one, so add your vote above and sound off on what you think below!

Source: NTSB via AP via Android Central

Our sibling site, TreoCentral.com, reminds us about the NY Times report that even hands-free cell phone (including iPhone) use while driving radically increases the risk of accidents:

Studies say that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. Research also shows that hands-free devices do not eliminate the risks, and may worsen them by suggesting that the behavior is safe.

Some states have passed laws requiring hands-free phone use (it's required where I live), some are no passing no-texting-and-driving laws, and some are trying to see if they can ban mobile use entirely.

Driving while talking on the phone is singled out, of course, though we'd suspect driving while following a map, eating, tuning the radio, checking out the scenery, even talking to another passenger (though arguably they have additional eyes on the road to mitigate) are all distracting to one degree or another.

TiPb's curious what you think about talking on the phone while driving, and what, if anything, you think should be done about it?