If we fail to come up with new, meaningful restrictions on driving while talking on cell phones, far too many of us may wind up seriously injured or killed in auto accidents. While we may be old enough to drive, we don’t seem to have the necessary patience to drive a bit further (in non-emergency situations) to find a safe place to pull over and use our cell phones. By allowing this type of laziness, we endanger ourselves, our passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and everyone else out on the road.

In a recent New York Times article, Matt Richtel noted that it took a Freedom of Information lawsuit to obtain federal government research indicating how dangerous it is for Americans to combine cell phone use with driving. (Interested readers can download a copy of this lengthy study.) The following are some of the facts, arguments and danger estimates contained in that research:

• About 955 deaths were likely caused in 2002 by Americans who were using their cell phones will driving;
• Two-hundred and forty thousand (240,000) – or nearly a quarter of a million accidents, were caused by drivers who were talking on their cell phones at the time of their accidents;
• Just passing “hands-free” laws allowing cell phone users to keep talking on their phones if they aren’t actually holding them is an inadequate remedy;
• It’s all about focus. Everyone knows that human conversations can turn upsetting, argumentative or extremely challenging at any second. This reality robs drivers of the constant focus they need to avoid careless driving choices;
• Those who drive and talk on the phone are about four times more likely to cause an accident than those who refrain from “multi-tasking” or chatting on the phone while behind the wheel;
• People who talk on their cell phones while driving are about as likely to cause an accident as an individual driver with a blood alcohol content of 0.8;
• What’s even more frightening is that this research was based on the assumption that only six percent (6%) of drivers use their phones while driving at any given time. It’s now thought that this figure is closer to about twelve percent (12%);
• While some of the data may have been incomplete and lacking precision, the researchers who called for a more extensive study to be conducted immediately may have been urged to not voice their strong opinions – perhaps for political reasons. (See: “Driven to Distraction.“)

However, you personally view the research now being fully released to the public, we think you’ll probably agree with us that it’s time we all start thinking about greatly limiting our cell phone use while driving.

We hope you’ve never been injured in an accident when either a friend or stranger was driving while talking on a cell phone. However, if you have, or know someone else who has, please let them know that we have the skills and lengthy legal experience to represent clients injured in such auto accidents.

Text messaging while driving has become such a serious road safety threat that California passed a law making it illegal back on January 1, 2009. www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws Unfortunately, text messaging still remains a menace. One 2009 Sacramento accident involved a truck driver who allegedly caused a three-car accident by text messaging just before rear-ending one car that in turn hit another vehicle. Traffic remained congested on Fair Oaks Boulevard near Wilhaggin Drive for quite some time after the collision. (See: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/crime/archives/2009/06/texting-driver.html )

What Text Messaging Statistics and Events Tell Us

As most Americans know, a terrible 2008 Metrolink train accident occurred in southern California involving a train engineer who failed to stop at a red light, killing at least 25 people and injuring far more. Since the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed that the train driver was sending and receiving numerous text messages all day (including one within 30 seconds of the crash), instead of carefully watching the rails and doing his job.
Text messaging in cars, where accident fatalities may be lower, is just as serious a transportation problem. In fact, 14 states and the District of Columbia already forbid texting while driving a car. (See: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html ) Furthermore, a U. S. News and World Report article cites one study that claims up to 20 percent of all drivers do some text messaging while driving. The numbers become even more troubling when you look at estimates for drivers between the ages of 18 and 24. As many as sixty-six percent of those youthful drivers may be texting while driving. (See: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/02/11/outlawing-text-messaging-while-driving.html )

Given the added distraction of looking down at a cell phone (or other device’s) screen while typing out a message, texting is surely more dangerous than talking on a handheld cell phone, though both pose serious threats to road safety. (See: http://news.aaa-calif.com/pr/aaa/Handsfree-Cell-Phone-Law-Reducing-Number-Of-Drivers-Using-Device.aspx )

Text Messaging Increases Overall Number of Road Dangers

Since we each have a choice as to whether we text message (or use a cell phone) while driving, we must increase our own personal safety by waiting to pursue those activities when we’re not behind the wheel. This type of caution is necessary since we already have little or no control over the following road dangers:

• Other drivers who are drunk; (See: http://www.madd.org/About-Us/About-Us/Statistics.aspx )
• Those who are behind the wheel while abusing street or prescription drugs;
• People who drive while sleep deprived, knowing their slower physical response times endanger many;
• Drivers who carelessly eat, read a map or apply make-up instead of carefully watching the road and nearby drivers;
• Poorly maintained or designed roads or highways; and
• Weather conditions that pose added challenges to even good drivers.

We hope you haven’t been harmed in any type of vehicle collision due to text messaging or other careless driving activities. However, if you have been in an accident, we invite you to contact our firm so we can help you evaluate your case. We have been successfully representing clients in this field for many years and know how to obtain the
the full financial sums available to injured parties under the law.