Zac Rudolph was biking through an intersection in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, six years ago when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small Mazda hatchback heading directly for him. He remembers the teenage driver looking up from her lap, her eyes suddenly wide with surprise, right before he was struck and thrown over the hood of the car.

Police soon arrived, but only ticketed the driver for failure to yield while turning left. Rudolph suffered a concussion, as well as some bumps and bruises, while his Cervélo road bike was completely destroyed. Perhaps worst of all, his comfort on a bike disappeared.

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“I ride pretty sporadically now,” Rudolph says. “I tried to work through it, but it’s hard. I’d been riding my bike for 15 years or so at that time, and that incident definitely changed my attitude toward riding on the road.”

Rudolph’s encounter with a distracted driver is far from an isolated case. Texting while driving was a major factor in more than 16,000 road deaths between 2002 and 2007, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Road deaths rose 6 percent over 2015 and 14 percent over 2014, the largest two-year increase in more than 50 years, per the National Safety Council.

The main reason for the jump, according to transportation experts? Distracted driving. A conservative 2013 estimate by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 10 percent of all traffic deaths result from a driver texting or otherwise interacting with a cell phone.

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People know it’s a problem, but many on the road can’t seem to help themselves. While nearly all drivers agree that texting behind the wheel is dangerous, one-third admitted to doing it during the previous month, according to a 2011 AAA survey.

“Distracted drivers are a game changer for cyclists,” says South Carolina bike attorney Peter Wilborn. A momentary distraction, he explains, can throw drivers inches or even feet off course. “All it takes is a glancing blow from a car mirror to knock a rider off their bike and into the wheels of the vehicle.”

States are all over the map when it comes to laws regarding the use of cell phones in vehicles. More than 40 ban texting while driving, while all but three ban texting for drivers under the age of 18. But fewer than 15 ban the use of handheld electronics entirely while the car is in motion, although states like Arkansas and Illinois forbid cell phone use in certain areas, like school zones and highway construction sites.

Alaska has the most severe penalty for distracted driving: a $10,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Utah fines drivers up to $750, along with a possible 90-day prison sentence, while Maine, Maryland, and Mississippi have penalties of up to $500. Arkansas has only a $100 fine, but judges are authorized to sentence violators to 10 days behind bars. Alaska, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and Utah each have stricter penalties for distracted drivers who cause a fatality.

But nearly half of all states have either no fine, such as Texas and South Dakota, or one that’s $50 or less. California’s fine is only $20, the same as Virginia’s. The Ohio legislature is considering a bill that would make distracted driving a secondary offense with a fine of up to $100. Connecticut discussed doubling the penalties for distracted driving from the current levels of $150 (first offense), $300 (second offense), and $500 (subsequent offenses), but it didn’t gain the necessary traction to move forward.

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So why do some states seem to take the problem less seriously?

“Almost all of us, including our legislators, have taken a quick look at our phones while driving without anything going wrong,” says Damon Richards, executive director of the Indianapolis bike advocacy group IndyCog. “Every time that happens, our notion that it isn't all that dangerous is reinforced.” (Full disclosure: I work as social media director for IndyCog.)

Despite South Carolina having no laws prohibiting the use of cell phones behind the wheel, Wilborn says he’s worked with police to use existing laws to prosecute distracted drivers. One driver who struck a group of five cyclists, killing one of them, was only ticketed at the scene but later faced charges of felony manslaughter. He pled guilty, although he would serve only 90 days behind bars and five years of probation.

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Colorado attorney Megan Hottman says that while she hopes for stricter distracted-driving laws and increased penalties, civil suits can also have an impact. Juries can assess big-money punitive damages against distracted drivers, discouraging the practice.

In the end, it comes down to personal responsibility. Hottman says cyclists can and should lead the charge against distracted driving when they’re behind the wheel. Many people interviewed for this story say they put their cell phone in the glove compartment or elsewhere in the car, to prevent temptation. While Apple and Android both have apps that will disable many smart-phone features while the car is in motion, Rudolph says that should become the default setting.

“We have smart phones,” he says, “but dumb people.”

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Robert Annis After spending nearly a decade as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, Robert Annis finally broke free of the shackles of gainful employment and now freelances full time, specializing in cycling and outdoor-travel journalism. Over the years, Robert's byline has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Afar, Bicycling, Men's Journal, Popular Mechanics, Lonely Planet, the Chicago Tribune, and Adventure.com

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