Ft. Lauderdale personal injury attorneys provide insight on the perils of distractions ahead of Memorial Day.
There are many reports online that deal with distracted driving. Indeed, during the past several years, as cell phone use has grown to become less of a privilege and more of a necessity, and with more apps and features offered on cell phones, their presence in the car, in a driver’s hands and at a driver’s ear, has made our lives more perilous as we take to Fort Lauderdale’s roads.
With Memorial Day around the corner, and with all the distractions that this holiday causes, from parties and barbecues to meeting friends and family, distracted driving is on our mind – and should be on yours, too. Here’s why: Distracted driving is one of the most dangerous situations for drivers and can result in a crash so severe that the personal injury for all those concerned may never heal – loss of limbs and life, loss of well-being, loss of income and of financial security –all are issues to contend with following a motor vehicle crash in Fort Lauderdale. While skilled personal injury litigation attorneys can handle the outcome of the accident for the victim, making sure that details of the accident are documented and that any financial compensation adequately covers continuing medical needs, it is the driver’s responsibility to get behind the wheel and focus on the road – to avoid crashes altogether.
The National Safety Council (www.nsc.org) has published a paper, “Understanding the distracted brain,” in which the NSC states quite plainly that “vision is the most important sense for safe driving.” The problem is that drivers, whether using hands-free or handheld devices, may look at the road but not register the objects in front of them. “Estimates indicate that drivers using cell phones look but fail to see up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment,” according to the paper, a scenario described as “inattention blindness, similar to that of tunnel vision.”
NSC states that there are more than 320 million wireless connections in the U.S. Nine percent of all drivers at any given time are using cell phones, and the National Safety Council estimates about one in four motor vehicle crashes involve cell phone use at the time of the crash. “Cell phone distracted driving has become a serious public health threat,” the NSC states.
What does this mean? As you may guess, all of these wireless connections, combined with thousands of cell phones and motor vehicles, spells disaster. With motor vehicle crashes among the top two causes of injury death and the number one cause of work-related death, everyone should listen up to the problems associated with road distractions. The NSC cites that “each year since 1994, between 32,800 and 43,500 people have been killed in motor vehicle crashes. That’s more than 737,000 lives lost during these years.” This figure includes people inside and outside of vehicles, as well as motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians who were struck by vehicles, the NSC states.
Driver distractions, in fact, are equal to alcohol and speeding as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that at any point during the day, nine percent of drivers are using cell phones. One in three drivers report that they often use a cell phone while driving – this includes both talking on the phone and texting while driving, despite the fact that the public generally agrees that texting or talking on the phone while driving causes a dangerous situation.
Talking on a cell phone while driving is legal in Florida, though its use can result in a traffic ticket if you break a traffic law or cause an accident. Never talk on the cell phone during hazardous driving conditions – in heavy rain or severe weather.
In addition, it is illegal to text and drive in Florida, however, it is still a secondary offense, meaning that drivers must be stopped for a separate alleged traffic violation before being ticketed for texting while driving. There are many, however, who believe texting while driving should be a primary offense.
The Florida Highway Patrol advises the use of common sense in using a cell phone while driving and wants drivers to keep the following in mind using the cell phone is a must:
- Get to know your phone and its features.
- Use a hands-free device if possible.
- Make sure your phone is in easy reach.
- Reserve phone usage for emergencies or important calls.
Moreover, the National Safety Council promotes various prevention strategies for avoiding a car accident, and consequently, possible personal injury, from a Fort Lauderdale crash in which cell phone use is the cause. Among these is consistent enforcement of laws, including legislative and corporate policies, coupled with enforcement and “strict consequences.”
“Technology solutions can go even further by preventing calls and messages from being sent or received by drivers in moving vehicles,” the NSC states.
Do you want your cell phone to be the judge of whether you’re able to handle its use behind the wheel? Then use your head and stay away from temptation while you’re driving. More often than not, that text or call can wait. Have a happy and safe Memorial Day.
