The decision, by an appeal court, made clear that the ultimate responsibility always remains with the driver of the vehicle. But if the sender of the text has reason to know that the recipient will read it immediately, 'it is not unfair to hold the sender responsible for the distraction'.
The case went back to 2009 when a teenager driving a pickup truck swerved across a centre line while reading a text, resulting in serious injuries to two people on a motorcycle.
It's not clear if the ruling would stand in other cases or jurisdictions, but it's yet another warning shot across across the bows of drivers who text while behind the wheel.
At a Forum on driver distraction last week organised by the Irish Motoring Writers Association, research from the University of Leeds noted that texting while driving is three times more distracting than driving while over the legal limit.
