Even as automakers try to add their voice to the anti-distracted driving chorus, Atlanta car accident lawyers find that they continue to outfit their automobiles with increasingly distracting gadgets.These type of gadgets greatly increase the likelihood of auto accidents involving serious personal injuries and wrongful death.
A case in point is Ford Motor Company.The company has been conducting a lot of anti-distracted driving workshops at high schools across the country, including in Georgia. Ford has been sponsoring clinics at several high schools urging students to switch off cell phones and texting devices while driving, and focus on the road.These efforts come as part of the Driving Skills for Life Program which the company promotes.
All these are wonderful initiatives, but it would help if Ford Motor Company actually walked the walk by removing such distractions from its automobiles.Just one look at Ford’s Sync voice-activated system on several of the company’s automobiles should make it clear that the automaker doesn’t necessarily have its money where its mouth is.
In fact, Ford Motor Company admits that there is an increasing demand for gadgetry in modern cars.The average American driver, the company believes, does not want to spend twenty minutes in his vehicle on his way home or to the office, without reading his e-mails and messages, checking out what’s happening in his Facebook friend circle, and engaging in a myriad other activities.That’s the reason why voice-activated systems that allow users to make phone calls and read text messages without taking their hands off the steering wheel, have become so popular.
Several other auto companies are jumping on the gadgetry bandwagon.General Motors has a voice-activated system designed to allow drivers to stay in touch even when they are at the wheel.The logic that many auto makers use is that voice-activated systems are not such a serious distracted driving threat, because they do not require a driver to take his hands off the wheel or his eyes off the road.
Atlanta car accident lawyers know that that is nonsense.The distractions from talking on a cell phone while driving come not from the act of holding the cell phone in your hand, but the actual conversation that you have.There are enough studies to indicate that hands-free sets do not reduce distractions compared to handheld cell phones.In short, voice-activated systems can be just as distracting to motorists as using a hand-held cell phone.
Competition amongst automakers has led to companies investing in technology designed to encourage motorists to keep in touch and work, even while they’re driving.Automakers need to step back and reassess their objectives, and the fact that they are actually increasing the risk of accidents by making such technology available.
The Atlanta car accident lawyers at the Katz Personal Injury Lawyers represent victims injured in auto accidents in the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia.If you have been injured in a car accident in Atlanta, consult a skilled Atlanta accident attorney at our firm to learn your legal rights.All initial consultations are free.