Articles Posted in Texting while driving

The start of summer can be an exciting time for everyone: warmer weather, the end of the school year, vacations, etc. But it also signals the beginning of a more disheartening season. According to research conducted by AAA, the 100 days after Memorial Day (until most school years begin again) are the “deadliest” for teen drivers. One sobering estimate, based on five years of research, is that approximately 1,000 people nationwide will die in automobile crashes involving teenage drivers (between the age of 16 and 19).

Much of this has been attributed to the increased number of teenage drivers on the road – when they are out of school, they are more likely to be driving around – however, this is also compounded by several other factors. For example, distracted driving is an issue for drivers of all ages, but especially for teenagers who are notorious for being “connected” at all times. It is estimated that distracted driving – including both talking and texting on cell phones – is behind almost 60% of crashes that occur over the summer. According to a study done by the University of Iowa which analyzed the final six seconds before a crash (by looking at over 2,000 dash-camera videos of moderate to severe crashes from August 2007 to April 2015) “15% involved talking to others in the car, 12% involved a cell phone (talking, texting, or otherwise operating), and 11% involved looking at or attending to something inside the car.” Additionally, according to Virginia Tech, using a cell phone or other device while driving, makes a crash more than 23 times more likely.

In order to work towards lessening these statistics of close to 10 teen driver-related deaths per day over the summer, it is important to take several different steps as parents, friends, and fellow drivers. If you are the parent of a teen driver, whether or not they recently acquired their license, it is crucial to both be aware of the increased danger of driving over the summer, as well as to communicate and discuss this with your child. Make sure that they understand how texting while driving (or even using their phone in another way) can dramatically increase the risk of crashing – and injuring themselves or others, or even causing a fatality.

Distracted driving is becoming far too commonplace on the streets of Boston.  All distractions present incredible risk to injury or death, not only the driver, but also passengers and bystanders.  There are three main types of distraction that are based on three types of attention, visual distractions (taking your eyes off the road), manual distractions (taking your hands off the wheel), and cognitive distractions (taking your mind off of driving).  Common distractions that can occur while operating a vehicle are texting or using a cell phone, eating or drinking, talking to passengers, applying make up or fixing one’s hair, reading (maps or directions), using a GPS, watching a video, and fiddling with radios or MP3 players to play music.

The more dangerous distractions are those that incorporate more than one of the groups of distractions.  For example, a particularly concerning distraction is using a cell phone to text because it requires so many forms of attention, visual, manual, and cognitive.  Some key statistics can illustrate just how damaging distracting driving can be.  In 2014, distracted drivers were associated with 3,179 fatalities and 431,000 injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents.  Studies have show that distracted driving appears to be more prevalent in younger drivers.  Ten percent of fatal crashes, 18 percent of injury crashes, and 16 percent of motor vehicle traffic crashes were cases in which the teenage driver, between 15 and 19 years old, was described as being distracted at the time of the crash.  Specifically, it has been studied that texting takes your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds.  If driving on a highway, assuming travelling about 55 miles per hour, you will travel the length of a football field while your eyes are focused on your text messages.

In order to discourage distracted driving, various state and federal laws have been enacted.  Many states have put a ban on texting and driving.  The Federal bans include banning texting while driving on government business/with government-owned equipment and banning cell phone use while on the job for various professions (railroad workers, motor carriers).  Most notably is the “It can wait” campaign sponsored by AT&T, which urges drivers that their phone can wait.  To date, there are over 8 million pledges made by those who pledge to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phones.  Although phones are the most well known driving distraction, other less obvious distractions can be just as dangerous.  As technology advances, cars are becoming more technologically sophisticated.  Most people believe that if respected car companies install intricate “infotainment” dashboards into cars, then they must be safe to use while driving.  However, anything that takes attention away from the road can distract drivers enough to get into an accident.  Driving is not an activity that can be used to multitask.  Continue reading

Texting and driving is extremely dangerous, and in some states the action is even illegal. The number of vehicle related accidents that can be directly tied to phone distraction is on the rise. However, a few up-and-coming phone applications have been developed in an effort to combat these accidents from occurring at such a high volume. A range of different options allows drivers and cellphone enthusiasts to select the app they feel best suits their needs while they are on the road. As Boston car accident lawyers we often see what can happen when a driver briefly takes his or her eyes off the road. Sometimes it can be a minor fender bender other times it can be catastrophic.

For those of you who struggle with completely disconnecting yourself from your phone while you travel, app developers are hoping they can lend you a hand (figuratively and literally) to assist in your debacle. Keeping both hands on the wheel and remaining alert and attentive are the most important things you can do while you are driving. The first of these options provided for hands-free driving is an app by the name of Auto SMS. This application is described as being an auto-response to both text messages and phone calls received while traveling in your vehicle. Auto SMS will automatically respond to all phone calls and text messages received when the application is set to a “text-to-speech” setting. In addition to responding to your messages, the application also has the ability to read the text messages aloud to you so that you are aware of who is contacting you and what the matter is regarding. Auto SMS has a variety of settings that you can adjust to best suit your needs, offering you the ability to auto respond to certain people at certain times and the manner in which you would like to respond to these individuals. Continue reading