Over the last ten years, the number of people hurt and killed in distracted driving accidents have skyrocketed. Despite the fact that we know it’s dangerous, we drive distracted every day. Whether we’re texting and driving or doing our makeup, we drive distracted. We know there’s no excuse for it.
Every year, over 3,000 in this country die because of distracted driving accidents. It has now become the third highest cause of all motor vehicle accidents. In Georgia alone, this number has gone up by 33% since 2014.
The problem with distracted driving is that people don’t realize how dangerous it is. They read about people dying in these crashes all the time. They see the stories on the news. However, they don’t think it’ll ever happen to them.
Preventing distracted driving has become a huge initiative in Georgia and across the country.
Atlanta Car Accident Lawyers Handle Many Distracted Driving Accidents
Despite the initiatives to curb distracted driving, the numbers continue to increase. Atlanta car accident lawyers handle hundreds of these cases every year. Thankfully, not all distracted driving accidents are fatal. But too many of them are.
The government in Georgia has already set a very specific goal when it comes to preventing distracted driving. Their goal is to increase the number of people cited for distracted driving from 14,000 per year to 20,000 per year in 2020. They figure if they write enough tickets, people will finally get the hint.
However, we have seen that strict distracted driving laws alone have not solved the problem. Despite stricter laws, more people are doing it every year. With the number of apps and handheld devices, people are just too tempted. They can’t control themselves. Rather than wait ten minutes to use their phones, they do it while they’re driving.
It’s going to take a lot more than stricter laws to change people’s behavior.
Georgia Car Accident Lawyers Know the Dangers of Distracted Driving
What needs to happen is people who drive distracted need to be help strictly liable. What we mean is, if you insist on driving while distracted, you’ll pay the price. If your personal injury lawyer can prove that the defendant was guilty of distracted driving, he should automatically be liable for your injuries.
If lawyers didn’t have to prove causation in distracted driving cases, they’d settle a lot quicker. If a lawyer could prove the defendant was texting at the time of the accident, it wouldn’t matter what else was going on. This would cause all drives to be a little more careful when it came to distracted driving.
Another thing that is inevitable is prevention of using handheld devices completely while driving. There will be technology that prevents your phone or device from getting a signal while your car is on. For example, texts will automatically be blocked or delayed if you’re in a moving car.
There is already technology that allows parents to set these controls on their kid’s phones. Why not do the same thing to adults? If the problem continues to get worse, the government will have no choice.
Is Distracted Driving More Than Just Texting and Driving?
The other issue is that distracted driving involves more than just handheld devices. There are all sort of distracted driving, including:
- Eating
- Doing your makeup
- Changing the radio station
- Reading a map
- Talking and goofing around with passengers
- Looking for change for tolls
There is really no way to completely curb these types of behaviors. And, for personal injury lawyers, there’s no way to really prove that the defendant was doing these things.
At least cell phone records can show that a driver was texting or using an app. We don’t have this for the other forms of distracted driving. We have to rely on witness statements, driver statements and maybe video recordings. However, if we can cut down on just use of handheld devices, we’ll make a huge dent in the number of distracted driving deaths.
Contact a Personal Injury Attorney in Atlanta Today
If you or a loved one have been hurt in a distracted driving accident, you need to contact a personal injury lawyer in Atlanta today. They can review your case and give you an idea of what it may be worth. They can check to see if the other driver was cited for distracted driving at the time of the accident. The initial consultation is absolutely free and you pay nothing until you settle your case.
