A serious sentence for a serious problem.

     That describes the case of a Massachusetts teen who was ordered to serve a year in jail after being convicted of texting while driving in an automobile crash that killed a 55-year-old man and seriously injured his girlfriend.

     Aaron Deveau of Haverhill, Mass., was also ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and surrender his driver’s license for 15 years.

     “We hope this sends a message that it’s not OK to text and drive,” said Donna Burleigh, the sister of Donald Bowley Jr., who was killed in the February 2011 crash.

     Perhaps it will and perhaps it will not.

     For the reason behind the uncertainty, one only has to look in the mirror.

     Will you remember Deveau and Bowley the next time you get behind the wheel of a car?

     When we get in the car, we may never intend to do something as dangerous as texting. But, a few miles down the road, the phone chimes and we glance over to see who’s contacting us. A second or two to send a couple of words in reply won’t hurt, right?

     Deveau probably didn’t think so, either.

     The then-17-year-old maintained he was not sending or receiving messages when the crash occurred. He testified he was putting his phone in the passenger’s seat and was distracted thinking about homework.

      According to a report on the trial, prosecutors said Deveau had sent 193 text messages the day of the accident, including some just before and several more afterward.

     Any one of those messages sent while the boy was behind the wheel was an accident waiting to happen.

     Certainly there are other potential distractions besides texting while we are operating a motor vehicle. Eating, fiddling with the radio or paying attention to children misbehaving come to mind.

     However, the issue of texting and driving is the one that is becoming more prevalent and problematic.

     Law enforcement officials will say it is a difficult problem to catch, partly because it happens so quickly and also because drivers could claim to have been dialing a number on the phone. Placing cell phone calls while driving is yet another distraction from driving, of course.

     A patchwork of laws regarding texting and driving have been passed in states across the nation. Deveau was one of the first sentenced under a 2010 Massachusetts law that created a crime for causing injury while texting and driving.

     Laws, with varying degrees of punishment, are needed when problems become too widespread and when they pose a danger to other people’s safety.

     Avoiding legal troubles and the dangers of texting while driving, however, can be avoided by remembering three simple words: It can wait.

     If it absolutely cannot, pull over to the side of the road. Otherwise, you might find yourself in jail.