Many, if not all, New Yorkers recognize that drinking and driving is dangerous. But few realize that texting
and driving (and other forms of distracted driving) can be even more dangerous. That lack of awareness leads to far too many preventable car accidents.
A recent survey showed that a majority of young-adult drivers thought texting and driving was easy while more than a third of teenage drivers acknowledged that they texted whiling driving.
But the young are not the only drivers who risk the lives of themselves and those around them by taking their attention of the road; many older drivers take this risk as well. For instance, the survey indicated that nearly half of the parents of young drivers talk on the phone while driving. That may sound innocuous, but consider this: Talking on the phone while driving makes reaction times even slower than being drunk behind the wheel.
These choices carry deadly stakes. Every day, roughly 10 people die and a thousand more are injured because of a distracted driver. Over the course of a year, that is more than 3,600 people killed and 365,000 injured because people thought they had something more important to do than watch the road.
As these figures demonstrate, distracted driving will continue to be a problem. New Yorkers will continue to be hurt and killed because fellow New Yorkers prioritize phone calls, text messages and other distractions over the safety of those around them.
When that happens, and a car accident results, New Yorkers hurt in that accident may benefit from discussing their legal options with an experienced car accident attorney. Doing so could help them get the compensation they need and deserve to pay for medical expenses, lost future wages, pain and suffering and more.
Source: CNN, “Brutally Honest: How to keep your teens from texting and driving,” Kelly Wallace, Feb. 17, 2015
