Georgia Injury Law Blog
The distracted driving problem in Georgia and across the country has resulted in federal and state transportation agencies, safety advocates, and Atlanta car accident lawyers pooling in their efforts to come up with ways to reduce the numbers of distracted motorists on the roads.A number of strategies are currently being used to reduce the effect of distracted driving on highway safety.However, a new report released by researchers at West Virginia University recommends some dramatic new ways to reduce the impact of distracted driving.
The report was released by scientists at West Virginia University, and is titled Keeping an Eye on Distracted Driving.The report has been published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to the report, there is no doubt that distracted driving is one of the key threats to motorist safety in the United States.Every year, distracted driving causes more than 300,000 injuries on our roads, and as many as 2,600 fatalities.According to the report, the numbers of injuries and fatalities linked to distracted driving increased significantly between 2005 and 2009.
Young drivers have been found to be at special risk of distracted driving, because their use of cell phones is much higher than older drivers.Younger drivers are also at a higher risk of such accidents because they lack experience, and may also lack the skills necessary to be able to focus on both the task of driving as well as their cell phone conversations.
Clearly, this is a problem with no immediate and permanent solution in sight, and the numbers of people injured in distracted driving-related accidents has actually increased over the years.
That is the bad news.The good news is that the researchers believe that there is a permanent solution to distracted driving, which would involve curtailing a person’s ability to send and receive text messages and have conversations on a cell phone while their car is in motion.
This is where the auto industry comes in.The researchers believe that automakers must invest in technology that would limit, or even completely eliminate a person’s ability to make cell phone calls, or receive or send text messages or e-mails while the car is in motion.In fact according to them, the technology must go so far as to make sure that motorists cannot even operate their cell phone to use an app, while the car is in motion.
And there may be other options for using technology, for example using red light cameras to also ticket motorists for texting while driving. One of the challenges of enforcing texting while driving laws is proving that the driver was actually texting while driving.It’s difficult for a traffic officer to see inside a vehicle and accurately determine what someone was doing on their phone.Roadside cameras may help prove that a person was violating the law by texting, or even discourage someone from doing it.(Insurancequotes.org recently posted a great article on red light cameras.)
It’s quite apparent to our Georgia auto accident attorneys that legislation, education campaigns and enforcement actions are having a limited effect on distracted driving.Technology that will cut off a person’s ability to use a cell phone while the car is in motion could be the key.