text: Texting and driving is now illegal in multiple states, which means you are committing a crime when you text and drive. According to the insurance institute for highway safety, 47 states plus Washington D.C. ban texting for all drivers. Four states allow officers to pull someone over for texting, without any other reason. In California, the consequence is $20 for the first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense. There are other states who take the offense more serious, Alaska you could be charged with misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $50,000 fine. Kill someone while texting and driving, and you could be looking at 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Then a car accident would lead to your car insurance to rise. According to a group of researchers, they found that some kind of texting law leads to a 2.3% decrease in fatalities for all drivers. Specifically banning teen drivers from texting reduced traffic deaths in that group by 11 percent. In conclusion, texting and driving could ultimately cause you unnecessary fees, or big time in prison.