DENVER – Seventeen people in Colorado lost their lives in crashes involving cell phones in 2015. The state of Colorado is trying to change that.
Governor John Hickenlooper will sign into law Thursday a bill that would increase the penalty for texting while driving from $50 to $300. Drivers also would get five points on their license instead of one point under current law.
The state Senate passed the bill in March.
The new law comes after a woman who was driving drunk and texting on her phone hit and killed a Parker couple riding a motorcycle near Franktown last year. Athina Munoz pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and was sentenced in January to 20 years in prison.