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The plaintiffs' attorney, Stephen Weinstein, argued that the text sender was electronically in the car with the driver receiving the text and should be treated like someone sitting next to him

They ruled that if the sender of text messages knows that the recipient is driving and texting at the same time, a court may hold the sender responsible for distraction and hold him or her liable for the accident.

The judges' decision has elicited a similar response from the state's governor, Chris Christie. The driver is ultimately responsible, he said. Not someone sending him a text. "You have the obligation to keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel and pay attention to what you're doing," he told radio station New Jersey 101.5.

Take out your wireless device. Read the last text message you sent or received aloud. Would reading or responding to that text message from behind the wheel be worth the risk of getting into a car accident -- or worse?

AT&T teen driver survey findings 97 percent of teens say texting while driving is dangerous — but 43 percent admit to doing so.

34 percent of teens have copped to texting while driving, and texting behind the wheel makes a crash 23 times (!) more likely

44 states, D.C. Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. 12 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving.

the use of speech-to-text technologies, such as features allowing drivers to listen and verbally respond to text messages or emails, results in a very high-level of mental distraction and significantly affects driver attention

So far, the research indicates that the cognitive distraction of having a hands-free phone conversation causes drivers to miss the important visual and audio cues that would ordinarily help you avoid a crash.

Passenger car driving behavior falls under the jurisdiction of the individual states, so the U.S. DOT can't ban it