The following is an excerpt from the website “Bicycling Law” maintained by attorney, Bob Mionske.

“A week after Bradley Walck killed Ardie Lewis in Oklahoma, Illinois governor Pat Quinn signed Matt’s Law—named for cyclist Matt Wilhelm, who was killed in that state by a texting driver—which bans composing, sending and reading any “electronic message” while driving. In Utah, drivers who kill while texting face up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine; in Alaska, the sentence can be as much as 20 years.

Still, only a handful of states have banned texting. What’s most remarkable is that 20 states, including Oklahoma, have considered texting legislation, but have failed to act.” 

(Mionske article continued here).