Negligent Driving - Is Texting Negligence?
Automobiles have dozens of safety features built right in. Seatbelts and airbags are standard on practically every vehicle on the current market. Cars have anti-lock brakes, crumple zones, and steering wheels that collapse in the event of a car accident.
Driving cars has become much easier as well. There is power steering, power brakes, GPS systems that tell you exactly where you are going, and cruise control for highway driving, which allows you to maintain a rate of speed automatically without putting your foot on the gas.
Most vehicles have fairly expansive entertainment systems, with CD players and docks for an iPod or mp3 player, while some of the higher end vehicles come equipped with DVD players and television screens.
But what none of these cars have is the ability to drive themselves, and that seems like it should be a priority for the Research and Development departments of automakers. The reason that we believe this is a necessity is because these days, drivers are so distracted with CD players, GPS systems, DVD players, iPods and cell phones that they are paying attention to everything except keeping their cars on the road.
This is not an exaggeration. A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that so-called “distracted driving” is the number one killer of teens. Playing with the stereo, talking on the cell phone, or even texting while behind the wheel are all examples of distracted driving.
In fact, a recent study by psychologists at the University of Utah provided some frightening statistics:
“Using a driving simulator under four different conditions: with no distractions, using a handheld cell phone, talking on a hands-free cell phone, and while intoxicated to the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level, 40 participants followed a simulated pace car that braked intermittently.
Researchers found that the drivers on cell phones drove more slowly, braked more slowly and were more likely to crash. In fact, the three participants who collided into the pace car were chatting away. None of the drunken drivers crashed.”
While no one is saying that it is better to be drunk behind the wheel than to be talking on the cell phone behind the wheel, the idea that drivers who talk on their phones are more dangerous than drivers who are drunk is certainly an eye-opening theory.
Those who text while driving are tempting fate on an even greater level, as sending text messages requires you to often use both hands while looking at the keys on the phone.
The Commonwealth of Virginia and the state of Maryland finally caught on to this dangerous trend among not just teens, but drivers everywhere, and enacted a ban on the practice:
“Virginia drivers will face new restrictions today, when hundreds of laws take effect, including a ban on sending or reading text messages and e-mails. A dozen states and the District ban motorists from texting while they drive. Virginia's ban begins today, and Maryland's takes effect Oct. 1.”
While we agree wholeheartedly with the ban, we think that Virginia’s laws are a little too lenient to be much of a deterrent. A driver can only be cited for texting while driving if he or she gets pulled over for a different offense. We have to wonder exactly how it can be proven that someone was texting in the time that it takes for the police officer to pull the driver over, call in his or her license plates, and then walk over to the car to speak to the driver.
Another aspect of Virginia’s law that is troubling to us is the pittance of the fines. It is a mere twenty dollars for a first offense and fifty dollars for any subsequent offences. Considering that the University of Utah study shows that driving while texting is more dangerous than driving while drunk, wouldn’t it make more sense to have the fines be just as severe?
Maryland, on the other hand, will be dishing out $500 penalties for this practice, and we think that is a more realistic penalty.
As personal injury attorneys in the D.C. metropolitan area, we have represented more than our fair share of people who have had their lives harmed irrevocably by people who have been irresponsible or negligent behind the wheel. And whenever we work on cases like these, we are always struck by how easily these accidents could have been prevented. Had the other driver simply called a cab, or used a hands free device, or just waited until they got home to check their texts, so many of these auto accidents probably wouldn’t have happened at all.
We at Greenberg and Bederman urge you to use caution behind the wheel. It isn’t just your life at risk when you don’t pay attention.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C., contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal car accident consultation today.
![BlogSearch.com](<A HREF="http://www.blog-search.com"> <IMG SRC="http://www.blog-search.com/images/smallbutton.gif" WIDTH=80 HEIGHT=15 BORDER=0 ALT="Blog Search: The Source for Blogs"></A>...){kind=link}
NPR just had a great program on July 29th. I heard it in the car and haven't been able to find a link to it yet. Here's a link to the underlying story though.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111351125
THank you for the info. I will look into this.
Paula Strand