A Dallas man is facing two counts of manslaughter after a crash killed two people in March.
Police said the man, Marcelino Delos Santos Jr., was texting and driving at the time of the accident.
In the early morning of March 27, Delos Santos struck a four-door sedan with his pickup truck, killing the two passengers, Gilberto Campos Molinero and Artemio Licea Bolanos.
Police additionally said Delos Santos was driving very fast and had run a red light at the time of the crash, per FOX 4 News DFW.
Delos Santos is currently being held in Garland jail.
Reading, writing, or sending a text has been illegal in Texas since 2017.
Nearly one in five crashes in Texas in 2021 were caused by distracted driving, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. These crashes resulted in 431 people dying and 2,934 being seriously injured.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, texting and driving was a factor in 13% of distracted driving accidents that resulted in fatalities in 2020. If we apply this statistic to the number of distracted driving fatalities in Texas in 2021, it would equate to 56 people dying in texting and driving crashes.
In 2020, there was a total of 396 deaths in the U.S. caused by texting and driving, according to Forbes. From 2016 to 2020, the number of fatalities has remained relatively stable, each around 400 every year.
Depending on the state, texting and driving fines range from $20 to $500. In Texas, the penalty can be up to $200.
There are two U.S. states that do not ban texting for all drivers. In Missouri, it is illegal for drivers under 21 to text and drive, but in February, a new bill was proposed to expand the ban to all drivers.
The state of Montana does not ban texting and driving for any drivers.
