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Excaliber wrote:

C-dub wrote:

Excaliber wrote: Driver 1 accidentally swerved into an adjoining lane while trying to do something while driving that should have been done when safely stopped somewhere. While not good, this is very significantly different from reckless driving, which is usually understood to be deliberately driving in a way that endangers self and/or others as a pattern of behavior over time and distance.

Careless is still reckless.

In common speech, yes. Under the law, no.

Careless isn't a mental state that makes an act prosecutable. Reckless, a higher standard, is.

Under Texas Penal Code Section 6.03(c) the culpable mental state of "reckless" is defined this way:

A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect
to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his
conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a
substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or
the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree
that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard
of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the
circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint.

IANAL, but I see a significant difference here.