Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

With all the discussion in the metro Atlanta news about texting while driving as a cause of car accidents, maybe it's time to step back and review exactly what distracted driving is. There are three types of distractions which make up distracted driving as defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation: 1) taking your eyes off the road; 2) taking your hands off the wheel; and 3) taking your mind off driving. In other words, any activity that requires a driver to remove his attention from driving will increase his risk of a car accident. According to the Virginia Tech Traffic Institute study for the National Highway Safety Administration 80% of all car wrecks are directly related to distracted driving.

While all the news has been on texting, other activities that interrupt a driver include dialing a cell phone, talking on a cell phone or with a passenger, reading or replying to email, eating and drinking, trying to read maps or navigation systems, changing the radio station or music selection on an i-pod, drowsiness and reaching to the floor to find something that has been dropped.

Just this week on the way to work, I passed a gentleman who was reading the newspaper on Georgia 400 heading into Atlanta! Maybe he has no concerns about causing an accident, but I don't want to be the car next to him when he veers over into another lane.

What can be done to educate drivers about the impact of a few seconds of distraction? The DOT has launched a website specifically to educate, publicize and gather information related to distracted driving. Valid suggestions to curb distractions while driving include setting the cell phone on mute so you won't be tempted to answer or see who is calling, driving defensively and being aware of drivers who appear to be talking or texting, and remembering it isn't just your life when you remove your focus from driving, it may be someone else's life you interrupt.

More Resources:

Guage Your Own Distraction

Thursday morning, a 23 year old man from the Atlanta metro area caused a fatal accident after running a red light. Police believe he may have been texting which distracted him from watching for the traffic signal. The car accident happened near Athens, Alabama at about 7:00 am. The 59 year old victim was on her way to work and died at the scene. Although both drivers were wearing seatbelts, the Georgia man was driving a 350 Chevrolet truck and the woman was driving an Acura. The State Highway Patrol is still investigating the wrongful death and has not yet determined charges.

This car accident will only add fuel to the debate in many state legislatures as to a ban on texting whiled driving. As recently reported, the Federal Motor Carrier Administration banned texting for all commercial bus and truck drivers on January 26, 2010. Georgia and Alabama both have proposals before their legislatures related to banning text messaging while driving.

There are many issues involved in the debate such as enforcement. How does the state enforce that type of law? They really can't until there is an accident and they subpoena the cell phone records - it isn't much different than enforcement of DUI laws.

Opponents of the law suggest that there may be better alternatives than putting additional laws on the books - we do have laws that cover wrongful deaths in traffic accidents. They are proponents of education in safety and driver "distractability." Just as the number of DUI's has declined over the past 20 years with high profile ads, education in the schools, and safety campaigns by states and the Federal government, we could reduce the number of accidents caused by distractions (i.e., cell phone use, texting, eating, reading the newspaper) with well-planned education and safety campaigns. For example, simple tests like the one posted previously in this blog are eye-opening as to the impact of texting while driving. Maybe it should be tied to getting a drivers license?

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently issued an order banning all in-cab texting by commercial truck and bus drivers. Because the DOT has the authority to regulate interstate truck and bus safety, it was able to immediately put this rule into effect due to the number of truck accidents caused by distracted driving. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stated "To put this dangerous behavior in perspective, researchers at Virginia Tech found that truck drivers who send text messages on a cell phone are about 23 times more likely to get into some type of crash or near-miss than drivers who keep their eyes on the road." The Virginia Tech study found that drivers take their eyes off the road for almost 5 seconds when texting which is equal to driving the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road.

Early release data from the National Highway Safety Administration indicates 4,229 people were killed in accidents involving large trucks in 2008. No data related to the cause of the accidents has been released yet. By way of comparison, in 2007 there were 4,808 people killed in truck accidents with 5.8% of those accidents involving distracted driving. So the good news is there is a downward trend in the number of deaths due to truck accidents and with this new ban on texting by large truck drivers, those numbers should continue to decline.

Texting and distracted driving have become such an issue that twenty states have already banned texting and driving by all drivers and 23 more are considering legislation, including Georgia. Georgia's bill has been sent back to a committee to determine how such a law could be enforced. We will continue to follow the bill in Georgia and keep you up to date as it moves through the legislature.

Continue reading "Texting Banned to Prevent Trucking Accidents" »

In Lilburn, Georgia, a texting teen crashed into a telephone phone. While typing a text to a friend and he ran off the road - the impact broke the pole in two. The young man suffered a traumatic head injury due to the impact of the accident. Gwinnett Police plan to charge him with improper use of a cell phone while driving and failure to maintain his lane.

Cell phone usage and texting while driving are distractions that are widely recognized as a cause of traffic accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 16% of all fatal crashes were caused by driver distraction. While this distraction factor includes more than cell phone usage, it is estimated that at any given moment 11% of drivers are using an electronic device while driving.

In fact, the Federal government is so concerned with cell phone use while driving they have joined with the National Safety Council in forming FocusDriven, a nonprofit organization which will focus on raising awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. FocusDriven is modeled after MADD which successfully changed America's drinking and driving habits.

Placing the focus on educating the public about the high rate of car accidents caused by cell phone use is a great idea.

While I was glad to see the Georgia Department of Public Safety's estimate of 18 fatalities over the Labor Day holiday was high, nine people lost their lives in Georgia accidents over the weekend. The fatalities occurred in Jasper, Gainesville, Marietta, Milledgeville, Thomson, Conyers and Waycross. The majority of these fatal accidents were predictably concentrated in the extended metro Atlanta interstate corridors.

The number of car and truck crashes exceeded the estimate of 1,725 and climbed to 2,231 accidents over the three day weekend. The actual number of injuries was lower than expected with 614 individuals needing medical treatment after a traffic accident.

The excessive increase in accidents this past Labor Day causes one to wonder if the impact of cell phones and PDAs on driver distraction had anything to do with these traffic accidents. You might want to test your own driver distraction on the previous post Cell Phones and Car Accidents: Gauge Your Own Distraction. Whether it is a holiday weekend or not, there is no substitute for driving defensively, buckling up, and putting your cell phone out of reach while you are on the road.

The Atlanta interstates are heavily used by semi trucks heading to all points in the southeast creating a perfect storm when combined with car traffic and cell phones. A new study indicates that tractor trailer truck drivers who text while driving are 23.2 times more likely to be involved in a trucking accident.
Trucking accidents and texting studies, have raised the profile and interest in the impact of texting on a driver's ability to focus on driving. In Florida recently, a semi truck crashed into a school bus while the driver was distracted by his cell phone. Other studies have shown that car drivers are just as easily distracted by texting.

The researchers at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute actually installed cameras in the cabs of trucks to provide a true picture of what happens when a driver texts. This is the first long-term "naturalistic" study where a driver's habits were recorded for 18 months. Most previous studies have been conducted on simulators.

The findings show that texting caused drivers to take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds which is equivalent "to a driver traveling the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the roadway."

Most states do not ban cell phone use while driving which includes texting. However, this study recommends that texting in moving vehicles be banned for all drivers. More importantly, in my view, is that drivers take responsibility for their actions and leave the cell phone alone while driving. It is not only a matter of life or death, but negligence and liability.

If you didn't test yourself last week when I posted this simulated game try it now:
Gauging Your Distraction.

Every day in the Atlanta area from Lawrenceville to Roswell to Marietta to Stone Mountain, you and I pass drivers who are engaged in their cell phone - not in driving. The New York Times recently reported in an article on cellphones and car accidents that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) never made public the research from a 2003 study related to the risks of cell phone use while driving. In this blog just a few days ago, a 2005 study was cited by the NHTSA that showed driver distraction caused by cell phone usage contributes to car accidents regardless of whether it is a handheld or hands free device. Try out the game at the end of this post to guage your own distraction level.

The newly disclosed research indicated that in 2002, twenty five percent of motor vehicle accidents were related to driver distraction. Driver distraction includes animals, eating/drinking, reading, rubber-necking, passengers, radio, smoking, children and cell phones. The National Safety Council issued a Cell Phone Use While Driving Fact Sheet that states drivers who use cell phones are four times more likely to be in a car crash. Approximately 6% of car accidents are attributed to cell phone use.

The reason behind the failure of the NHTSA to release the research is being used by consumer groups to bring the issue of prohibiting the use of cell phones while driving into public focus. Whether you believe the use of cell phones while driving should be illegal or not, common sense tells us that drivers already know (and have known for years) that cell phone use is a distraction along with texting and emailing. None of these activities should be done while driving and it is up to us, as responsible drivers to put the temptation aside and the cell phone down while driving. Avoid DUC (driving under the influence of cells) and not only will you be a safer driver, you won't run the risk of being sued for gross negligence when you are in a car accident, because you won't be on your phone!

Gauge your own distraction level with this cool interactive game on the dangers of driving and texting. I tried it and it was eye-opening!

Resources:

New York Times

NHTSA

National Safety Council

As I drive into Atlanta each morning, I pass scores of drivers talking and texting on their cell phones. We have all probably been guilty of it, but what you may not know is that if you are in a car accident and you were talking, texting or emailing on your cell phone you have opened yourself up to a bigger lawsuit with potentially higher damages. The first thing a good attorney will do is subpoena cell phone records to check whether a driver was on his phone at the time of the accident.

By the end of 2008 there were over 270.3 million wireless subscribers in the United States with over 87% of the population owning a cell phone. Several years ago, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration conducted a study to determine just how the use of a cell phone while driving contributed to car accidents. Interestingly, the study found that it did not matter whether a driver was using a handheld or hands free device, either way, the drivers were distracted by the use of the device and phone conversation. Phone conversations, dialing, answering, and texting all resulted in delays in responding to slowing traffic and, particularly scary, a significant drop in the ability to merge into traffic while using a cell phone.

We all need to think a little more carefully before we get behind the wheel of a car and take a call or try to read a text. If you have teenagers make sure they are not using their cell phone while driving. It is truly a safety issue with deadly consequences.

Read more:
National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration

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