Surprising as it may seem, cell phone use while driving has become one of the major reasons for road accidents and the need for contacting a car accident lawyer if you have been involved in an accident involving a driver who was texting while driving.
Cell phones have been with us for around twenty years now and almost everyone in the U.S. has one, or at least easy access to one. When they first became popular, users were so intrigued with them that they would be checking texts, texting and calling whenever they could. This resulted in places that were considered quiet havens such as libraries becoming home to the buzz of the cell phone users.
Notices were quickly pasted up all over the place asking callers to turn their phones off or go outside. This was quite easy to solve but what has been almost irreconcilable is dealing with texting while out driving on our busy highways.
Texting and road accidents
There is much evidence to indicate that there has been a rise in road accidents as a result of focusing on texting and not on the road. It is not too hard to see that someone who places their phone on their lap, out of sight and has to take both hands off the wheel and eyes off the road while texting that more accidents would well be the outcome.
It takes about 5 seconds to complete a text message, which is equivalent in distance of driving the length of a basketball pitch at 65 mph. In that short distance anything could happen, a dog could run out into the middle of the road, a pedestrian crossing might be closing in on you or an 18 wheeler truck could be coming to a grinding halt up ahead to brake for a hazard.
These three situations could be catastrophic and a serious accident with multiple injuries or even a fatality could be the outcome.
Negligent driving
Even in the most favourable road conditions, clear skies, a dry road and a light wind, accidents do happen on our congested highways and there is always someone at fault. Texting is just another way of adding to the already dismal accident statistics published every year.
Legislators so far have been unable to satisfactorily deal with compulsive texting, as often the perpetrator conceals the phone from view and cannot be caught in the act very easily. It would certainly not be economical to have trails of police cars tailing possible texters in the hope that they would catch one red handed. However, if an accident does happen, the evidence is right there stored on the cell phone, including the date, time and content of the message. Unless the negligent driver has tossed the phone away or concealed it carefully in the car, sooner or later all will be revealed.
If you have been involved in a collision with another vehicle and it was not your fault you should contact a qualified and experienced accident lawyer as soon as possible as you will be entitled to claim compensation for any injuries that you have received during the accident.