It’s not just talking, but texting and a lot of the texting is being done by persons under 30 years old. In fact, traffic accidents are currently the leading cause of teenager deaths in the U.S., with one in three teen deaths occurring on the road. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), drivers aged 15-24 account for $26 billion in vehicle injuries, almost 30% of overall costs from car injuries in the U.S. Only about 14% of drivers are aged 15-24.

Many of these injuries and fatalities are largely preventable by simply informing people, particularly young people, about the serious dangers of texting while driving.

Why Texting and Driving is Dangerous

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, distracted driving injured almost half a million people in 2009, and killed nearly 5,500. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that dialing a phone makes it 6x more likely to get into an accident, while texting while driving multiplies the chance of an accident by 23x.

One Handed Driving – Though one handed driving is not inherently dangerous since people who drive automatics almost exclusively drive with one hand, the difference is that they are concentrating on driving and don’t have to drop anything to use both hands to react to hazardous situations.

Multitasking – There are thousands of people that will tell you that they are master multitaskers and they can easily split their attention in many directions. Don’t believe them. Studies have shown that if you do two or more things at the same time that you are doing none of the things well and miss most of the important details.

Typing – Typing a text into a phone with two hands and nothing else to do takes an experienced texter less than 5 seconds. Typing a simple text with one hand while driving takes about minute, which is more time than it takes to crash and have a bystander call 911 to have authorities come and pull you from the burning wreckage.

Drift – This what happens when someone isn’t paying attention. The car drifts either to the shoulder where they hit the curb or become intimate with a tree (or worse, a pedestrian) or they drift the other direction into oncoming traffic causing a potentially fatal head on collision.

Texting Studies

Consumer Reports just released a study in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as part of a joint public services campaign around texting and driving. The campaign aims to bring awareness of the dangers of distracted driving to young people.

It was a phone survey asking people under the age of 30 about their mobile device use when they drive. Of those surveyed, they found:

• 63% used a handheld cell phone while driving in the past 30 days
• 30% texted while driving in the past 30 days
• 36% were very concerned with distracted driving, and even fewer
• 30% thought using a cell phone while driving was very dangerous
• 58% saw a dangerous situation because of distracted driving in the last 30 days.

Enforcement of Texting

There has not been a national standard set by law makers regarding the use of cell phones and texting while driving, instead choosing to leave it ups to the states to make up their own rules on what they think is appropriate for their area. Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary and head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has voiced deep concern for cell phone use and texting while driving and has banned texting by commercial truck drivers.

Currently 30 states have a law on the books banning texting while driving. In some states the law is primary, which means that a driver texting can be pulled over for that reason alone. But in some states, the law is secondary, meaning the driver must be doing something else illegal before being pulled over.

In Washington State the law is a little more up for interpretation. The police can choose to pull a driver over strictly for using their cell phones or texting, but the overall policy is to only charge someone a ticket if it contributes to an accident. This policy takes prevention out of the equation.

It is also extremely hard to catch someone texting. They naturally hold their phone down to text in order to reduce glare and cradle the phone in their hand. Looking down on the floor of your vehicle is not against the law, but not paying attention and driving recklessly is, so most police officers will pull over a texter if they are swerving.

Seattle Car Accident Lawyer

Texting while driving is easily one of the most dangerous things a person can do in a vehicle. Some studies have shown that texting makes a person drive as if they are twice the legal drinking limit of .08. This makes people swerve, drift, and otherwise put all other cars on the road around them dangerous. Please don’t text while driving, if not for yourself, then for everyone else.

If you or someone you know has suffered a serious personal injury after getting into a car accident with a distracted driver, then you need skilled legal council to represent you to assure that you get the compensation you deserve. Call the Seattle car accident lawyers at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.

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The issue is such that October 18th – October 24th has been declared to be “Teen Driver Safety Week” in Washington, and the event is an effort to bring awareness to the risks involved with young drivers and to help alert anyone to steps that can be taken that lead to safer roads and fewer problems for young Washington residents who get behind the wheel.

One look at some basic statistics can explain why such a week has been planned. According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC), 140 people between the ages of 16 and 19 have been killed in auto accidents in Washington, and more than 400 have been seriously injured. The leading causes of these accidents appears to include speeding, drug and/or alcohol impairment, inattention or a combination thereof.

Young drivers are also much more likely to play loud music, joy ride and use their phones for calls and/or texting while driving, all of which only adds to the dangers that these young drivers incur. These risks also create danger for anyone else who happens to be sharing the road with them at any given time, thereby creating a situation where the state government decided to take action.

This is also the reason that insurance premiums tend to be more expensive for young or new drivers than for almost anyone else. The insurance industry assesses risks, and clearly they see young drivers as the biggest risk within this context. If you or someone you love has been injured or worse by a young driver in Washington or by anyone else, you need to contact a Washington auto accident lawyer at Phillips & Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Now comes word that Congress is considering a federal bill that would be tied to federal highway funding, which basically means that if any state does not follow the new regulation, it would risk losing these payments, which are critical to every state for several reasons. This legislation would speak to the federal banning of texting while driving, but would affect truck drivers and the technology installed in their cabs that allow them to remain connected to their employer, to send and receive emails and to map their course as they drive.

The Virginia Tech study that was made famous for concluding that drivers are 23 times more likely to get into an accident while texting also showed that truck drivers are 10 times more likely to encounter problems while using these computers. However, many trucking companies have some regulations that require drivers to pull over in order to send and receive messages or to use these computers in almost any way.

The problem is that in reality, drivers do not normally have the option of pulling over, as they are running extremely tight schedules and could even face pay cuts if they’re even a few minutes late with a load. It breaks down to the classic business versus safety dichotomy, and the trucking industry is resisting the enactment of this regulation as it applies to them.

Simply put, anything that puts drivers of trucks and anyone around them at risk is problematic, and if someone is injured by a truck driver who was distracted at the time, that truck driver could face a stronger claim brought by the injured plaintiff. If you or someone you love has been injured by a truck driver, you need to contact the Washington trucking accidents lawyers at Phillips & Webster as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation.

In terms of enforcement, Washington was busy writing tickets for these violations last year, according to Hands Free Info, a Web site that tracks these statistics:

“The fine for using a cell phone without a hands-free device is $124, but drivers must have committed another infraction to get that ticket.

One year after the cell phone driving law took effect, the State Patrol reported these numbers: 4,939 drivers were stopped for use of handheld cell phones and 1,659 were ticketed. The majority of stops resulted in warnings. For text messaging, the State Patrol said 577 drivers were pulled over and 221 tickets were written. The number of collisions attributed to use of handheld devices fell from 1,118 (2007) to 827.

State Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, a sponsor of the hands-free requirement for cell phone use, reportedly is considering a new push to make violations a primary offense, meaning law enforcement officers may pull over drivers for that reason alone.”

While it’s clear that the number of collisions fell during the first year of enforcement, the long-term effects remain to be seen. Regardless, if you are hit by someone who is violating this law, it could lead to a higher presumption of negligence. If this sounds familiar, you need to contact the auto accident lawyers at Phillips & Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.