The National Transportation Safety Board frequently uses a 2010 Missouri car accident as an example in its efforts to encourage each state to enact a ban on cell phone while driving. In that accident, on Interstate 44 in Franklin County, Missouri, a 19-year-old driving a pickup truck was sending text messages as he drove. He collided with the cab of a big rig, then was hit by behind by two school buses filled with students on a trip for their band. Two died and 38 were injured.
While other states have enacted such bans, Missouri has not yet. Nearly two years later, Missouri legislators remain seemingly unwilling to pass a law that would expand the narrow one already on its books. That law, passed in 2009, makes it illegal for drivers age 21 and younger to send text messages while driving.
