According to Consumer Reports, teenagers are dying and suffering serious injuries every year because of car accidents caused by texting and using cell phones while driving.The safety advocacy group along with the US Department of Transportation have announced a new campaign aimed at minimizing the incidence of distracted driving among teen motorists. As an Atlanta injury lawyer, I very much applaud their efforts. Car accidents are one of the leading causes of deaths and injury among teenagers. Simply put, too many families have been devastated by these car accidents.
According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Utah, the average reaction time for a teenage motorist driving and talking on a cell phone was equal to that of a 70-year-old driver not using a phone while driving.There are numerous other studies that have clearly laid out the significantly increased accident risks that come when motorists are using cell phones while driving.For instance, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that texting while driving could increase a motorist’s risk of an accident by a staggering 23 times.
According to the same study, physically dialing a phone while driving increases the risk of an accident by as much as six times.In 2009, approximately 16% of all fatal accidents were caused by distracted driving.At least one in five of those deaths involved the use of cell phones or texting while driving.
The risks from accidents caused by cell phone use while driving are so great, because almost every teen driver has a cell phone in his or her car.The temptation to use the phone with your hand on the wheel is too great to resist for many teenage motorists.These are already inexperienced drivers with little appreciation for the crash risks from such behavior.When such drivers are distracted by cell phones and other gadgets, the risk of being involved in an accident increases dramatically.
The Atlanta car accident lawyers at the Katz Personal Injury Lawyers represent injured victims of car and auto accidents in and across the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia.