Distracted Driving Accidents | Georgia Personal Injury Blog - Part 2

Texting Isn’t the Only Dangerous Driving Distraction

By Grant Law Office on January 16, 2012

Many U.S. states have banned texting while driving, as has the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). But texting isn’t the only thing that can distract a driver enough to cause an accident. Eating, talking, and even personal grooming can all take a driver’s eyes and mind off the road and hands off the wheel – increasing the risks of a motor vehicle crash.

According to a 2010 report from the National Safety Council, approximately 1.4 million accidents per year are caused by drivers who are distracted by cell phones. This number doesn’t include distractions from texting – just those whose conversations on a cell phone resulted in a crash. A 2009 study performed at Virginia Tech found that texting while driving was even more dangerous than previously assumed. The study found that the risk of an accident goes up a stunning 23 times when a driver is texting.

• Read more…

Georgia Not Yet Making a Move on NTSB Recommendation for All Cell Phone Ban

By Grant Law Office on December 23, 2011

Soon after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) banned commercial large truck drivers and bus drivers from using any hand-held cell phone while operating the vehicle, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made its recommendation to the nation’s 50 states to ban all non-emergency, portable electronic devices, including hands-free for all drivers. The NTSB made this recommendation following the conclusion that the initial cause of a devastating accident in Missouri was caused by cell phone use.

What started as a rear-end collision turned into a fatal multi-car pile -up when the 19-year-old driver of a GMC Sierra pickup truck rear-ended a trailer-less Volvo truck-tractor. This initial crash was followed by two more as a 71-passenger school bus rear-ended the pickup truck and then was rear-ended itself by a second, 72-passenger school bus. This accident resulted in two deaths and 35 injuries. The driver of the GMC Sierra had sent/received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes preceding the accident.

• Read more…

Stopping Distractions One Step at a Time

By Grant Law Office on November 9, 2011

Distraction is among the most lethal threats to drivers on the road today. However, it’s also among the most preventable. With awareness and discipline, drivers can weed out the hazardous behavior at the root of distracted driving. By doing so and obeying cell phone driving laws, simple and strong choices save lives every time someone gets behind the wheel. Culled from recent tips released by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), here are some of the main causes and solutions for distraction behind the wheel.

• Cell Phones: Most distracted driving accidents stem from cell phone usage. Turn off your ringer when you’re behind the wheel, or use an application that automatically notifies callers you’re driving and states you will get back to them as soon as possible. If talking or making a call is essential, pull over to a safe and permitted area.

  • Read more…

Do Laws Lower Distracted Driving?

By Grant Law Office on October 26, 2011

As society becomes increasingly hypnotized and married to cell phones and handheld devices, most would agree on the severity of the distracted driving epidemic in this country. But there is a level of discourse regarding how to adequately address and decrease it. Some think legislation that prohibits texting and overall cell phone usage deters violations and inherently reduces the number of wrecks caused by distraction. However, a recent Fact Checker column in the Reno Gazette Journal questioned the proven merit of these types of regulations, specifically speaking to a new bill (Senate bill 140) that outlaws every kind of hand held cell phone usage in Nevada.

It’s important to reinforce that the column did not question or condone the serious consequences of distracted driving, pointing to University of Utah data that found drivers using hand held electronic devices while driving to be as compromised as those who were legally drunk with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 percent or more. The column also noted devastating wrecks in its region as a result of distraction. But it questioned the arguably inconclusive evidence found in research studies as to whether laws actually effectively curb the hazardous activity, citing a Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) quote that alleged: “there is no evidence that cell phone or texting bans have reduced crashes.”

• Read more…

What Are Georgia’s Cell Phone Driving Laws?

By Grant Law Office on August 4, 2011

Many distracted driver accidents in Georgia, and across the nation, are caused by drivers who insist on using their cell phone to talk, text, read, or go online, while they are driving. As cell phones became more and more popular, and distracted driving accidents became more prevalent, many states deemed it necessary to restrict cell phone use while driving.

As of July 2011, ten states have banned using a hand-held cell phone while driving, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These states include California, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, New York, Oregon, New Jersey, Washington, Utah, and the District of Columbia. In addition, 30 states and the District of Columbia have restricted cell phone use by novice drivers. The District of Columbia and 19 states have also prohibited school bus drivers from all cell phone use.

• Read more…