Distracted Driving Accidents

Distracted Driving in Florida

Florida is one of just a handful of states where lawmakers have made no effort to combat the risk of distracted driving. Even as the feds consider a nationwide law prohibiting the use of hand-held cell phones by drivers, Florida has not even forbidden teenagers from texting while driving.

In a state where millions of tourists are often distracted – and where the roads are barely able to handle the influx of winter traffic – much more needs to be done to combat the risk of distracted driving.

The Governor’s Highway Safety Administration reports 34 states, Guam and the District of Columbia have banned all drivers from text messaging behind the wheel. Seven more prohibit texting by young drivers. And three have specific provisions that ban school bus drivers from text messaging.

Nine states ban all hand-held cell phone use by drivers.

Florida joins Idaho, Montana, Ohio and South Dakota as the only states that had no law on the book to combat distracted driving.

Source: Governors Highway Safety Association; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nowhere are today’s safety advocates focusing more attention than on the risk of distracted driving accidents – and with good reason.

The Fort Myers car accident lawyers at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, understand that few accidents are really “accidents” in the strictest sense of the word. Speeding. Inattention. Drunk Driving. Aggressive Driving. These are all primary causes.

But the number of distracted driving accidents has exploded in recent years, alongside the growing popularity of smart phones, text messaging and in-car electronics. Today, the government blames 1 in 6 fatal accidents on some form of distracted driving – up from 1 in 10 just a few years ago. And the number of fatal distracted driving crashes continues to increase, even as the overall number of traffic fatalities has reached near record lows.

And the fact that many states don’t include driver distraction as a primary or secondary accident cause, means the issue is substantially under-reported. Still, more than 5,000 lives are lost each year to accidents blamed on distracted driving.

And cell phones are far from the only cause of distracted driving. Our Cape Coral car accident attorneys note the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has taken automakers to task for continuing to incorporate distractive technology into new vehicles.

Other common forms of distracted driving in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and elsewhere in South Florida include:

• Eating, drinking and smoking
• Grooming or applying makeup
• Talking to passengers
• Reading, including maps
• Using the radio, GPS or other in-car electronics

Each year, more than 500,000 motorists are injured by accidents caused by a distracted driver. Those under 20 years old are at highest risk. Can your law firm prove your case? At Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, we have the investigators and trial attorneys capable of conducting a thorough and independent review of the cause of your accident. Whether it involves a subpoena for cell phone records or professional accident reconstruction, we utilize every available resource to build a case capable of winning the compensation you deserve.

800-646-1210 – Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner – Focused on Justice