Accident Victims' Families Call for More Action at Distracted Driving Summit
A two-day long conference on distracted driving wound up last week in Washington DC. There were transportation officials in attendance, along with members of Congress and auto safety advocates. As a New Jersey personal injury lawyer, I believe that some of the strongest testimony comes from those who have lost the most from accidents involving distracted drivers. This includes victims of such accidents and survivors of those killed in a collision with a distracted driver. There were several such victims and survivors at the summit. They lost loved ones when their cars were rear ended by motorists who were too busy applying makeup, painting nails, talking on the cell phone or text messaging behind the wheel.
During the summit, attendees heard compelling new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. According to the agency, close to 6,000 people died in accidents involving distracted drivers in 2008. These accidents left more than 500,000 people injured. That wasn’t the first that New Jersey personal injury lawyers had heard about the dangers of distracted drivers. Earlier this year, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that a shocking 80 percent of accidents are caused by driver inattention. The study further found that drivers who use handheld cell phones and communication devices have a risk of being involved in serious accidents that is four times as high as non-distracted drivers. Motorists who are text messaging while driving have a risk of being involved in a serious crash that’s up to four times higher than for non-distracted drivers.
There are more reasons why we should fear distracted behavior behind the wheel, especially text messaging. Teen motorists today are growing up with an addiction to text messaging. In fact, data shows that the average teen text messages up to 5,000 times in a month. We are at risk of letting loose a generation of motorists, who think nothing of texting at the wheel or having a conversation on their cell phone while driving.
It’s good to see that the Transportation Secretary and lawmakers are taking the distraction threat seriously, but we need to see more concrete steps being taken to prevent these accidents.
