The month of April has been declared National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. One of the most recent issues involving distracted driving is texting while driving. According to experts, sending a text message while driving requires you to take your eyes off the road for intervals of five seconds at a time. The state of California recently released a study on driving safety, the first since it passed a law prohibiting the use of handheld communication devices while driving, one of the first laws of its kind in the United States, in July 2008. According to the study, cellphone-related traffic fatalities have decreased by 47 percent since the texting ban went into effect.
This year, the states of West Virginia and Pennsylvania have joined 34 other states in prohibiting drivers from sending and receiving text messages while behind the wheel. Recently, a Rhode Island judge made nationwide headlines for suspending a teenager’s driver’s license for life after the teenager was ruled to have caused an automotive collision while texting and driving, but a law banning texting and driving has been unsuccessful at gaining traction in that state’s legislature.
As a San Bernadino car accident attorney, I am very aware of the damage drivers can cause when they take their eyes off the road. If you or someone you love has been injured in an auto accident linked to a distracted driver, please consider contacting a Ventura car accident lawyer.