Lansing Personal Injury Lawyer - Texting

Teens Learn Dangers of Texting While Driving During National Teen Safe Driver Week

David Mittleman — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:16:05 GMT

Congress has designated this week as National Teen Safe Driver Week. To help promote teen and young adult driving safety, the Michigan State Police recently offered local college students the opportunity to learn firsthand the dangers of driving while texting. On Monday, the Michigan State Police offered a demonstration on a precision track. The police supervisor, Sergeant James Flegel, instructed the students to text while attempting to maneuver around orange cones, which were representative of the cars and pedestrians they would normally encounter while driving. The demonstration, planned and offered by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, was designed to show the dangers of using a cell phone, particularly to text, while driving.

National Teen Safe Driver Week was inspired by a recent Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study. In the study, the researchers used cameras to monitor the drivers of semitrailer trucks and their texting habits. Overall, the results showed that the risk of crash is 23 times greater when texting while driving. While the study did not look at how text messaging affects people driving cars, SUVs, or pickups, the results did find that dialing a cell phone caused the driver of any of these three types of vehicles to triple their risk of an accident.

According to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, traffic crashes are the top killer of people between the ages of 16 and 20. Specifically, just last year 174 people were killed in crashes involving 16 to 20 year-olds. Furthermore, 106 out of the 174 of those killed were people between the ages of 16 and 20. While it is unclear what role cell phone use played in these accidents, students, such as 19-year-old Ciara Hines, admit that they knocked over nearly every orange cone on the precision course while driving and texting.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Transportation Department Holding Summit on the Dangers of Distracted Driving

David Mittleman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:30:00 GMT

Both Devon and myself have written on the extremely dangerous road hazard of driving while distracted. In fact, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute conducted a study in July and found that texting while driving, for one, can increase the likelihood of a crash by 23 times the amount when compared to a non-texting driver. Further compounding these statistics, the Obama administration recently reported that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million were injured last year in vehicle crashes caused by distracted driving.

Luckily, the has president decided to do something about these daunting statistics: starting today and continuing over the next few days, the Transportation Department will hold a government meeting on auto safety. Bringing together experts from across the country, the Transportation Department will take a serious look at highway safety and drivers who talk or text on their cell phones while driving. Secretary LaHood is expected to speak tomorrow on recommendations to improve driving safety, including putting a ban on using cellular devices while behind the wheel.

The panel of experts will include government officials, researchers, safety advocates, and lawmakers, all of whom hope to reach a consensus on reducing roadway hazards. Furthermore, the panel will also hear testimony from young drivers who have caused car accidents because they were texting while driving. Indeed, statistics show that drivers under the age of 20 constituted the greatest proportion of distracted drivers. So far, eighteen states and the District of Columbia have bans on texting while driving. Moreover, seven states and the district have banned talking on cell phones while driving as well. Secretary LaHood has also vowed to “work with Congress” to develop ways of curbing distracted driving. Given the statistics, it is extremely important that something is done to raise awareness of this roadway danger, which this summit will hopefully accomplish. However, this is only a first step—laws to deter drivers from engaging in distracted driving could save many lives each year.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

A Serious Danger 2 U: The Driver Who Texts While Driving

Devon Glass — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:59:23 GMT

Continuing with our series on interstate driving and safety, I will attempt to follow up Rick’s recent blog on uninsured drivers and Pierce’s blog on hit and run drivers. Except, I will be focusing on another type of dangerous driver that Steve recently blogged about: the texter.

You’re probably quite familiar with someone who can’t seem to put that cell phone down. Perhaps it’s your teenager who has to “stay in touch with their BFF” during the few hours that they aren’t in school and chatting F2F (that’s face-to-face for all of you who aren’t up on the texting lingo). While that may be so, texting while driving is a serious danger to both the texter and other drivers on the interstate highways.

Back in July, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released a report on the dangers of texting. Specifically, the Institute found that texting is the most dangerous driving distraction and increases the risk of collision 23 times more than when a driver is not texting. Actually, the results of the study were particularly applicable to interstate driving. During the study, the researchers outfitted the cabs of 100 long-haul trucks with video cameras and watched the drivers for 18 months. Their findings showed that in the moments before a crash or near a crash, drivers spent nearly five seconds looking at their texting devices. Traveling at highway speeds, five seconds is enough time for a truck to travel the distance of a football field.

Luckily, House Bill 4394 was introduced in the state House by Representative Lee Gonzales to ban texting while driving in Michigan. Unfortunately, the Michigan legislature voted to make texting while driving a secondary offense. In other words, if a driver is pulled over for another violation, this can be “tacked on” as a secondary offense. However, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has also recently introduced legislation on July 29 to ban all texting or e-mailing while driving, nationwide. Failure to comply would mean a loss of federal highway funds for states. Hopefully, this could push Michigan and other states into stricter enforcement.

Continue to follow our series through the rest of this week. Here’s some of what you’ve missed if you just joined us:

Are Double-Bottomed Semis More or Less Dangerous to You? - Devon Glass from Church Wyble, P.C. (Michigan), August 26, 2009

Who wins and loses when a Ford Focus and a fully-loaded semi-truck crash? - Steve Lombardi from The Lombardi Law Firm (Iowa), August 25, 2009

Hawaii Freeway Chronicles #1: What Are The Danger Points On H-1, H-2 and H-3?, by Wayne Parsons of Wayne Parsons Law Offices. (Hawaii), August 27, 2009

The Interstate Highway Graveyard, “Speed Kills”, Lombardi, August 28, 2009

Why Speeders on the Highway Cause More Serious Accidents, Glass, August 28, 2009

Death and Injury On Interstate Highways Increase With Higher Speed Limits, Wayne Parsons, August 29, 2009 2:31 AM

Drunk Drivers Caused 40% of Traffic Fatalities In Hawaii In 2006, Wayne Parsons, August 31, 2009 12:16 AM

Interstate Highways Are No Place For Drunk Drivers Over The Labor Day Weekend Wayne Parsons | September 01, 2009 4:36 PM

Uninsured Motorist Car Insurance: It’s Your Most Important Car Insurance and Here Is Why | Rick Shapiro, September 01, 2009 10:30 AM

Uninsured Drivers: Who Are These People?, Pierce Egerton | September 02, 2009 12:00 PM

Risky Drivers Don't Just Drive Drunk and Speed - They Often Don't have Insurance by Wayne Parsons | September 03, 2009 4:09 PM

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass

Texting While Driving Most Dangerous Driving Distraction

David Mittleman — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:57:29 GMT

According to a new study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, texting is the most dangerous driving distraction and increases the risk of collision 23 times more than when a driver is not texting.

During the study, the researchers outfitted the cabs of 100 long-haul trucks with video cameras and watched the drivers for 18 months. Their findings showed that in the moments before a crash or near a crash, drivers spent nearly five seconds looking at their texting devices. Traveling at highway speeds, five seconds is enough time for a truck to travel the distance of a football field.

Currently, thirty-six states do not ban texting while driving. However, Tom Dingus, the director of the Virginia Tech Institute, says that the message of this study is clear: that drivers should never text while driving and that “it should be illegal”. Only 14 states do have laws against texting while driving, including Alaska, California, Louisiana and New Jersey. Legislators in some states that do not have laws have rejected the idea altogether and elected officials say they need more data to determine whether or not to ban the activity. Perhaps the results of the study will send a compelling enough of a message that all states will eventually adopt laws against texting while driving.

There is a lack of data on the impact of texting while driving on subsequent car crashes because many police agencies do not collect data or have not conducted any long-term studies. Moreover, texting is a newer driving distraction. Nevertheless, the popularity of texting has soared in recent years—phone users in the United States sent 110 billion messages in December 2008 alone. That data represents a tenfold increase in the level of texting in one month since 2005. The danger of texting while driving has received more national attention in recent months after several crashes occurred that were caused by texting drivers. Specifically, the most shocking incident occurred in May of this year when a trolley car driver in Boston crashed while texting his girlfriend.

Shockingly, most drivers admit that they know that it is unsafe to text while driving, but continue to do it anyway. A new AAA Foundation traffic safety poll of 2,501 drivers found almost 90% of respondents agree that texting and e-mailing while driving is dangerous, but 18% of those people admitted to texting while driving in the past month.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Put the Brakes on Driving While Texting

David Mittleman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:10:57 GMT

You're driving on the highway. You are going past, or being passed, by another vehicle. It's your natural reaction to glance over to look at the driver. That's when you see it: a teenager’s fingers flying over a miniature keyboard as they text their friends with their eyes facing down rather than on the road. That’s right, I’m referring to “driving while texting”. As a parent, it’s very difficult to read the statistics: each year 21% of all fatal car crashes involve teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 who were using their cell phone at the time of impact, either while talking to a friend or more frequently while sending text messages. Even more alarming, researchers estimate this number to grow by as much as 4% each year.

Safe Driving Systems announced a technology back in May that will remedy this dangerous problem: Key2SafeDriving. This product is the first of its kind and will essentially eliminate distracted driving by rerouting calls and text messages when the user is driving. Specifically, the device’s features include:

The Key2SafeDriving is a Bluetooth device that is fitted onto the ignition key and wirelessly jams the driver’s cell phone.
So long as the key is in the ignition the cell phone cannot be used. The device also sends a text message to parents alerting them when their teen attempts to use the cell phone while it is in driving mode.
Safe Driving Mode: when the user is driving, the cell phone immediately goes into safe driving mode by sending calls directly to voicemail and sending an automated text message to incoming texts to indicate that the user is driving.
Emergency use enabled: when the phone is in Safe Driving Mode, it is still able to call 911 and other numbers by the administrator managed personal profile.

The version I of the device will retail for $49.99 plus a $10 monthly service charge. This device can ease parents’ minds as they send their teens out on the roads, and most importantly, save young lives and the lives of other motorists. These are returns that are well worth the out-of-pocket cost.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Engineer Responsible for California Train Crash that Killed 25 had History of Cell Phone Use While Working

David Mittleman — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:20:00 GMT

Although bans on cell phone use and driving have only recently come to the forefront of legislation, Metrolink has prohibited its train engineers from using cell phones for a lot longer. Now, a source claims Robert Sanchez, the engineer operating the train that blew through a red signal and into a Union Pacific freight train last September, regularly used his phone while on the job. An investigation into the crash revealed Sanchez sent and received dozens of text messages while working the day of the crash, including sending a text message 22 seconds before the collision. The source, an anonymous co-worker who worked directly with Sanchez, claims he contacted his superiors at Connex Railroad LLC about Sanchez’s excessive cell phone use just a few weeks prior to the accident and that he complained to another co-worker the day of the crash. Furthermore, the source claims that Connex had found Sanchez to be in violation of both Connex and Metrolink rules of prohibiting engineers to use cell phones while on duty and that Connex failed to take any disciplinary measures.

Lawyers on behalf of 23 plaintiffs who were injured or killed in the crash amended their lawsuit on Monday to include the newfound negligence allegations against Connex, Sanchez’s employer. According to the L.A. Times, damage claims for this accident are well on their way to exceeding the $200 million cap imposed by Congress in an attempt to limit a railroad’s liability in a single accident. Although the dangers of texting while driving are well-known, people just don’t seem to get it. Not only is it illegal in some jurisdictions, but the harm you place yourself and those around you is substantial.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by David Mittleman

Driving While Texting May Be More Dangerous Than Driving While Drunk Or High

Devon Glass — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:37:00 GMT

An alarming study in Britain, conducted by the Royal Automobile Club, found that driving while sending and receiving text messages is more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.

The RAC observed drivers ages 17-24 and determined that reaction times of texting drivers decreased by 35%. Alternatively, reaction times for drivers under the influence of alcohol indicated a 12% delayed reaction time and drivers under the influence of marijuana demonstrated a delayed reaction time of 21%. The study found that drivers’ steering control diminished by 91%, causing them to drift outside of their lane while texting. For those under the influence of marijuana, steering control was reduced by 35%.

In the high-tech age of Blackberry's, cell phones, PDA’s and smartphones, this doesn’t seem to be all that surprising. We are all guilty of it. How many of you can honestly say you haven’t looked down to check your phone while driving? According to a Harvard University study, over 200 deaths and half a million injuries have stemmed from cell phone usage, including texting while driving. Just something to think about next time text and drive.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Devon Glass