Text-messaging driver crashes into Coventry cruiser
8:12 AM Thu, Oct 15, 2009 | Permalink
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COVENTRY, R.I. -- The Coventry Police cruiser sat idle, with its lights flashing, at Exit 7 on Route 95 north, diverting traffic off the highway because of a three-car crash further up the road. No one was in the cruiser Wednesday night around 10 p.m. when an approaching Jeep Cherokee plowed into it, totaling both vehicles, according to State Police Lt. Eric LaRiviere. Crash site on Rt. 95 north, at exit 7, Coventry
The driver of the 1994 Jeep -- David Mercer, 26, of 159 Bates Trail, West Greenwich -- told the police he hadn't seen the Coventry cruiser. "He told the trooper that he was text-messaging, and he was distracted," LaRiviere said Thursday morning. Mercer is charged with several motor-vehicle infractions -- none of them criminal, LaRiviere said. He was cited with failure to maintain control of his vehicle, obedience to devices and no insurance, according to the state police. Rescue personnel examined him at the scene of the crash and released him there. The issue of cell-phone use behind the wheel - specifically text messaging while driving - made national headlines over the summer, following a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that found that drivers who text are 23 times more likely to crash. At least 10 states ban text messaging while driving, but Rhode Island is not among them. The state Senate did pass a ban last session, but the bill did not make it through the House. House Speaker William J. Murphy, filling in as a radio talk show host this summer, told listeners he hopes the General Assembly is "able to tackle" a ban on text messaging when it reconvenes. That crash caused the state police to keep a section of Route 95 north closed Wednesday night longer than they would have for the original crash, LaRiviere said. The initial crash happened around 9:30 p.m., on Route 95 north just before exit 8 in East Greenwich, LaRiviere said. No one was seriously injured, but the severity of the crash , which left debris scattered in the roadway, forced the police to close the highway in that area, according to LaRiviere. The Coventry police were assisting with traffic diversion and had parked a couple of the department's cruisers with their lights on at exit 7, forcing cars off the highway to follow a detour, LaRiviere said. One of the drivers involved in the first crash was taken to an area hospital, according to the state police. Here's how the state police say that accident happened: Angela Walters -- 27, of 20 Cornfield Point, Woodstock, Conn. -- was driving a two-door 2008 Ford in the left lane when she drifted out of her lane and sideswiped a vehicle to her right, lost control, struck the jersey barrier in the high-speed lane and landed in the left lane, facing the wrong way on the highway. An approaching vehicle in the northbound, left lane did not have time to avoid Walters' vehicle and struck it head-on. The driver of that 2009 Honda -- Senthilkumar Subramanian -- complained of pain and was taken to an area hospital, LaRiviere said. Neither Walters nor the driver of the vehicle that Walters sideswiped was injured. The driver of the second vehicle, a 2001 Toyota, was identified as Antonietta Martone, 71, of 32 Woodbridge Rd, Narragansett. No one was charged in the first crash, which remains under investigation, LaRiviere said. With reports from Journal Staff Writer Cynthia Needham 
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Sentence the texting "child" to 30 days jail, make him pay the replacement cost for a new cruiser and give him 200 hours community service for stupidity!
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THE GA CAN BLINDLY SPEND US INTO A HUGE DEFICIT BUT, CANN'T SEE THE DANGER OF WRITTING A TEXT MESSAGE WHILE DRIVING..
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No criminal charges?
What about a law against driving while criminally insane, like texting while you should be watching the, um, road?
Or since texting while driving is NOT illegal, will it (or has it) become the catchall excuse for all sorts of bad driving behavior that results in an accident?
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If I had to take a guess, I'd say the original accident may have been caused by the CT woman either text messaging or talking on a cell phone as well. Its hard to believe that she just drifted and hit another vehicle next to her without being distracted in some way. I was stopped at a red light on RT2 the other day at a major intersection, I sat and watched car after car go by with the operators talking on cell phones. To make matters worse, the driver of the vehicle to my left also waiting at the light was text messaging; the insanity is complete. Why is RI so far behind the times on these types of legislation's? It'll take someone of importance to lose a loved one before something finally changes.
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Texting while driving is more of a threat than drinking! Ban it so people are forced to use common sense.
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RI is never part of any ban that makes sense. I could not even believe what I was reading. Maybe RI would incorporate a ban on texting while driving had the police officer been injured. Wake up RI!
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As long as the General Assembly is made up of dolts like Murphy & williamson (who, by the way, got into an accident while texting) we will never have a safe state - either financially or with laws that protect us common-folk.
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Even if they BAN it...who is going to enforce it?? Just make the penalties REALLY STIFF if you get into an accident etc...
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I read the headline and knew this would turn into a debate about banning text messaging. Driving a vehicle is inherently dangerous so I don't see why people get in a hissy fit about texting. If you think texting is distracting, try putting two or three toddlers in the backseat!
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David Mercer is a very lucky man! He is lucky not only because noone was killed in the accident but also because noone was even injured. How often does that happen.....both cars totaled and noone needing a band-aid.
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If Mercer had been killed, he would have received a much-deserved Darwin Award. It's time to ban texting and using a cell phone without a hands-free device.
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This texting has reached epidemic rates I have seen several mothers with there children in the car texting and weaving all over the road!!It is
time this worthless GA we have in RI. to address it in a serious manner with out special intrest groups in there ears!!or are we going to
wait for another catastrophe like the one on 295
a couple of months ago when the 2 mothers were
killed only this time with cell phones!!!I can
not wait until election time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Bobby, you must be one of those people who believe they are special and can text people safely while driving. Thanks for putting the rest of us into jeopardy while you are out on the road. Sorry, most of the rest of us don't consider it a 'hissy fit.' It's a matter of good people getting killed by selfish morons.
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Get used to much more of this. My personal favorite is people who sit at a red light as it turns green furiously typing away as traffic behind them begins honking. Get off the phone, stop text messaging or end up getting sued into oblivion when you cause a fatal accident.
Idiots.
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I sure hope this idiot will be have to pay for the police vehicle otherwise the replacement cost will be coming out of yours and mine wallets as taxpayers. And for what? All because a jerk was being a jerk. Thank God he didn't kill someone.
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grumpyoldman is right.
Darwin award is the second thing I thought, right after Thank God that idiot didn't kill anyone.
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The trouble isn't cellphones, it's morons. It's not a formidable intellectual leap to be able to drive a car and use a cellphone so the ones who prove incapable of doing it are not likely to be able to perform any task that requires synchronization of both hands.
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Texting is more of a danger than drunk driving.
I was texting last year in my car and realized I had not looked at road for about 10 seconds. I looked up to find myself driving on other side of highway.
Thankfully the road was empty. I have NEVER turned the phone turned on in my car since. It scared me straight.
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texting while driving? duh!! If use of cell while driving, is against the law, and showed to be dangerous, why don,t the law maker put it together when they make the law.
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Maybe they should just take the text messaging feature away from people PERIOD!
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