Parents feel reassured when their teenagers have mobile phones to utilize in an emergency and to keep parents updated on their whereabouts. Nevertheless, the drawback is that distracted driving while texting has been a leading cause of accidents, especially among young drivers.
People rely heavily on cellphones, and almost everybody has one. Texting is significantly popular with Americans sending out about 17.3 billion texts a month. Regrettably, interruptions due to cellphone usage can be fatal. Data shows that utilizing a cellphone triples the threat of an accident.
Individuals hurt in a crash due to cellphone distraction needs to get in touch with a lawyer as soon as possible to collect proof from the crash and figure out the reason for the accident. If a cellphone user was negligent, damages could be awarded.
Exceptional aid after a distracted driving accident can be discovered at our Houston automobile accident law practice. Call us at (281) 990-5200 to talk with a well-informed attorney.
Distracted Driving While Texting Is Dangerous
Composing a text is intricate and the brain needs to govern several sorts of activity. The mobile phone user should visually perceive the screen and keyboard and coordinate fine muscle motions to select characters with the thumbs or fingers. Language cognition and production is likewise involved in composing or checking out a text.
Texting inhabits a lot of a person’s cognitive capacity that it is difficult to text and at the same time devote sufficient attention to stay concentrated on driving.
On average, it takes 4.6 seconds to send a text message. In that amount of time, a car moving at 55 miles per hour will take a trip about 100 yards, the length of a football field.
In effect, a chauffeur who is texting is operating a motor vehicle while driving blind, and anything can take place. Because of time, the automobile might wander across the center line and into a lethal head-on crash.
In our state-of-the-art world, there are increasingly more circumstances of chauffeur interruptions that add to vehicle accidents, some of them fatal.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2008, there were an approximated 6,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries attributable to distracted driving. If anything, the actual number is likely greater since diversions can be difficult to measure and the true number of accidents brought on by chauffeur distractions is difficult to specify.
Our changing driving routines and increased dependence on innovation have actually gradually raised the number of potentially hazardous distractions. Consider the attention-diverters in your own car– radio and climate controls, mobile phone, and navigation systems. Matters are complicated even more when there is more than one interruption, such as eating while trying to discipline a kid in the backseat.
Moreover, the National Security Council released a white paper in early 2010, going over the results of cellular phone use while driving, and the news is not good. The white paper pulled information from a minimum of 30 various scientific studies, and the results revealed that mobile phones have actually rapidly become one of the leading driver interruptions, even when drivers chose “hands-free” devices.
The NSC exposes that cell-phone usage triggers the motorist to multi-task and damages the brain’s ability to capture driving cues. The frustrating result suffers driving efficiency.
Because of the grim data, a lot of states have placed limitations on drivers’ use of cell phones. The variety of wireless phone users in the U.S. has grown from five million in 1990 to more than 200 million today, and surveys show that 85 percent of these individuals utilize mobile phones when behind the wheel. In fact, calls from moving automobiles account for half of all cellular broadcast usage.
Anti-Distraction Tips
So what can you do to prevent falling into this trap?
Below are some essential anti-distraction suggestions:
- Keep your eyes on the road. Think about the possibility of turning your cell phone off while behind the wheel.
- NEVER text while driving
- Keep your hands on the wheel by setting your preferred radio stations, and arranging tapes and CDs in an easily available spot.
- Do not attempt to retrieve things that have actually fallen on the floor while driving
- Teach your children the value of etiquette in the vehicle
- Prevent eating and drinking while driving. If you must, select easy-to-handle foods and keep beverages in a neighboring cup-holder
- Designate the front-seat passenger to work as a navigator rather than fumbling with maps and navigation systems yourself
- Take a break if you find yourself lost on the road
- Prevent difficult or confrontational discussion while driving
Teens Often Have Distracted Driving Accidents
Because of their lack of driving experience, teens have more accidents. They are likewise most likely to take part in texting. Comparing age groups, the teenaged group has the greatest portion of distracted motorists who have fatal motor vehicle accidents.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 20 percent of the 15- to 19-year-old chauffeurs in fatal accidents were distracted by cellular phone use. Alarmingly, more teenagers now die in distracted driving accidents than in DUI mishaps.
Mobile Phone Laws
In Texas, texting while driving is prohibited. Cellphone usage for making and getting calls is enabled by drivers aged 18 and older.
For drivers under 18, cellphone usage is the main offense. That suggests that a police officer might stop a young driver and release a citation for any mobile phone usage, even if there does not seem to be any other offense.
Texting is a secondary offense for adult drivers. That means that in order to ticket an adult motorist for texting, a police officer should have stopped the driver due to the main offense, like speeding.
Contact an Experienced Attorney
A driver who negligently causes an accident because of distracted driving is likely to be considered liable for the harm that is done.
Email us or call us at (281) 990-5200 to talk with our Houston personal injury lawyers after a distracted driving accident.
Don’t delay your case any longer get in touch with us today. We will fight for your rights and recover the compensation that you solely deserve!
