Texting teen nearly impaled by fence in crash adds to anti-texting push

Judging by stories in just the past few weeks, texting while driving has become America's most urgent public safety issue, filling local television screens across the country with stories of crashes, near-misses and dire warnings. The latest: This photo from Washington, the result of a close call by a driver supposedly typing just before the crash. What's less clear is whether a brace of new laws will do much, or how many drivers will be willing to turn off their phones completely while driving.

The scene above comes from Aberdeen, Wash., where a teen-ager at the wheel of a Dodge Ram pickup on Sunday ran off the road into a wooden fence, sending one slat through the windshield where his head should be. According to KOMO-TV, the driver only suffered minor injuries, but the Washington State Police say witnesses saw the driver texting in the moments before the crash.