Texting while driving: Should it be a crime?

Late last month Leqing court in Zhejiang province sentenced a 22-year-old man to one year in prison with an 18-month reprieve and and ordered him to pay 200,000 yuan civil compensation for accidentally hitting a pedestrian while driving and trying to delete a game app on his cellphone.

According to official statistics, the use of cellphones while driving is the top reason for traffic accidents leading to death in Zhengzhou, Henan province - more than those caused by speeding, overtaking from the wrong side and drunk driving.

Studies show that staring at a cellphone for 3 seconds while driving at a speed of 60 kilometers an hour is as dangerous as "blind driving" for 50 meters. In fact, the United States National Safety Council said in 2014 that mobile devices were involved in 26 percent of all vehicle crashes.