Put Down Your Phone and Save a Life
By now most Americans have gotten the message – no pun intended – that texting behind the wheel kills. You have heard the mind-boggling statistics about how texting while driving is quickly eclipsing drunk driving as the leading cause of death in car accidents for teen drivers in the U.S. You have probably heard that anecdote about how sending an average text takes your eyes off the road on average 4.5 seconds, which is about as long as it takes to pass a football field driving 55 mph. Yet, Americans cannot seem to stop texting behind the wheel, and a new survey exclusive to USA Today proves it.
In this study, 87% of respondents acknowledged the danger of texting and emailing behind the wheel, but get this: 18% of them admit that they just cannot “resist the urge” to pick up their phone when they are behind the wheel. In the article, founder and director of the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future Jeff Cole said “People are admitting that it’s dangerous to text and drive, but it’s still a behavior that people cannot shake.”
Changing behavior to save lives
Despite all of the statistics and stories, people are having a very difficult time chasing their behaviors. In the article Behavior Change Needed: Texting While Driving, writer Tricia Lee points out that “Simply put, campaigns and the occasional (if never) punishment cannot compete with the rate of reinforcement for texting while driving.” In her article, Lee talks about how the habit of texting behind the wheel gets constantly reinforced each time a person does it and no consequence occurs.
It is up to all of us to drive with caution and observe the rules of the road that are designed to keep us safe:
- When you get into the driver’s seat, put your phone in a bag on the back seat;
- If you plan to use your mobile phone in hands-free mode to talk, select “driving mode” if that is an available option on your phone;
- If you have children in the car with you, do not model the behavior of texting behind the wheel; and,
- When your teen driver is learning to drive, have them leave their phone at home.
Texting behind the wheel causes vehicle accidents
As the research mentioned there are people who will not put their phones down and drive, and some of those people will cause tragic car accidents. If you have been involved in a car accident caused by a negligent driver who was texting behind the wheel you may be able to file a lawsuit and receive damages to compensate you for your injuries and losses.
Paulson & Nace, PLLC protects personal injury victims in the Greater Washington, D.C. metro area and throughout West Virginia. If you have questions or if you suffered a serious injury because of the negligence of a driver who was texting and driving, please contact our office to learn more.
Christopher T. Nace works in all practice areas of the firm, including medical malpractice, birth injury, drug and product liability, motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, and other negligence and personal injury matters.
Read more about Christopher T. Nace.