Risks of texting and driving
A local newspaper in Broward County, Florida recently published several user submitted stories focusing on the dangers of texting while driving an automobile. The commentaries included real life car accident scenarios involving automobile accidents in where one of the drivers was texting. In one case, a young teen driver was texting while driving her car and she veered off of the road while attempting to read a text and crashed head-on into a parked car.
One of the commentators cited a recent study by the Department of Transportation (DOT) that compiled statistics on the use of cell phones and texting while driving. According to the commentator, the DOT study found that the leading cause of distracted driver traffic crashes in South Florida, as well as across the country, was texting.
According to the study, 80% of car crashes involve driver distraction; and, texting is the number one thing that distracts motorists' attention. The study found that manual manipulation of phones, such as dialing and texting, led to a substantial increase in the risk of being involved in a car crash, truck crash or near crash event. An automobile driver dialing a cell phone was 2.8 times more likely to be involved in a car crash (or near crash) than a non-distracted driver.
These commentaries highlight what Ft. Lauderdale personal injury lawyers have known for some time, namely that distracted driving causes car accidents in Broward. Most accident attorneys in Broward have been aggressively focusing on distracted conduct like cell phone use and texting to prosecute negligence claims against distracted drivers, whose conduct causes injury or death. Most car accident lawyers will try to determine cause, through the discovery process, to find if the defendant driver was engaging in any type of distracted driving prior to a car accident.
Always contact an experienced Personal Injury Attorney and seek legal consultation should you be a victim of a car accident to know your rights.
