North Carolina Injury Attorney Blog

You've heard the statistics: nearly 6000 dead and over 500,000 injured. The death and destruction on our roads continues, and at a recent safety summit in Washington, D.C., the experts are blaming cell phones.

A device at the recent 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), received a big award for stopping texting while driving.

A company called "Scosche" introduced CellControl. The electronic device plugs into a computer port in your car and after downloading an app to your, or your child's, smartphone, it restricts cell phone use if the vehicle is moving.

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A sobering study by Consumer Reports regarding mobile device use for drivers under the age of 30 recently found that of those surveyed:

63% used a cell phone while driving in the last 30 days;

30% texted while driving in the past 30 days;

Only 36 % were very concerned with distracted driving;

Only 30% thought using a cell phone while driving was very dangerous; and

58% saw a dangerous situation because of distracted driving in the last 30 days.

Consumer Reports released this data just as it is beginning a joint public services campaign with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The campaign aims to bring awareness of the dangers of distracted driving to young people.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, distracted driving injured almost half a million people in 2009, and killed nearly 5,500. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that dialing a phone makes it six times more likely to get into an accident, while texting while driving multiplies the chance of an accident by 23.

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With the epidemic of texting while driving causing more and more serious crashes, injuries and deaths, the North Carolina Legislature is taking up the issue of a total ban of cell phones while driving a motor vehicle. North Carolina Lawyers Weekly covered the story this week.

Representatives Garland Pierce, D-Hoke, and Charles Graham, D-Robeson, filed the bill to ban cell phone use while driving on February 2, 2011. The bill is known as H. 31 and is titled, "An act to make using a mobile phone unlawful while driving a motor vehicle on a public street or highway or public vehicular area." The bill is currently in the House Rules Committee.

The bill basically bans any use of a cell phone, even via blue tooth hands-free technology, while one is operating a motor vehicle. This ban would include school bus drivers. The only exception under the new bill would be in the case of an emergency.

The penalty for violating the proposed new law would be a $100 fine and no insurance points.

Continue reading "North Carolina Moves Forward To Ban Cell Phones While Driving" »

With public attention focused on decreasing the use of cell phones in cars, by both teenage drivers and adults as well, data from the most recent studies indicate the danger continues to grow. The number of serious crashes and deaths caused by distracted driving certainly continues to increase. While almost every state has passed laws that make it illegal to send or receive text and/or email messages while driving, these laws have proved ineffective at stopping the dangerous behavior. The latest numbers show that almost 6000 people are dying each year from car crashes caused by distracted driving.

There are two basic problems with the current approach, first enforcement is difficult for police officers because it is not illegal to dial a cellphone while driving, so identifying someone who is actually texting while driving is all but impossible unless the officer observes a driver weaving all over the road, then pulls the driver over, asks them if they were texting or emailing, and the driver actually admits to the illegal activity. According to court records reviewed by the Associated Press, this process has resulted in approximately 1200 people receiving tickets under the "texting ban" in North Carolina since the law went into effect in December of 2009. The second problem is that many drivers fail to appreciate the deadly danger.

Studies that have interviewed teens and adults find that most people who text while driving feel that they can text and also drive safely. They feel that they can look away from the road and still keep their car under control. This is a naive attitude at best. As this author has asserted in prior posts, education is the key to solving his social epidemic.

The Distracted Driving Safety Alliance (DDSA) is taking steps to gather and educate individuals and organizations from all across society to find ways to curb all behaviors that distract teens and adults alike. Educating all drivers about the "best practices" for driving is something the the DDSA is trying to accomplish. Here are the DDSA's best practices for new drivers:

Continue reading "Teen Texting While Driving Continues Despite Deaths & Laws" »

Another North Carolina teenager has tragically died as a result of texting while driving. WITN news just reported that yesterday afternoon at 3:42pm, Sarah Edwards appears to have glanced down at her cell phone to read a text message. That distraction caused her Honda Accord to drift across the yellow line into the on-coming lane where it struck the rear tandems of a tractor-trailer logging truck. She died instantly. The collision occurred on Chandler Road in Beaufort County. Her cell phone records show that she read a text message one minute before the first of several 911 calls were placed reporting the collision.

Ms. Edwards, 18 of Chocowinity, was a senior at Southside High School in Washington. Her funeral is this Saturday at 11 a.m. at Pamlico Memorial Gardens in Washington.

Continue reading "Texting While Driving Claims Another North Carolina Teen's Life" »

The leading cause of death for teenagers, ages 16 to 19, in North Carolina is motor vehicle crashes. This unpleasant statistic applies across the U.S. as well. In 2008, 9 teenagers died every day from injuries in car wrecks. More teens are killed in car crashes than in any other way. Thus far, almost all states have taken some action to try and reduce teen crashes. But the restrictions vary greatly from state to state.

In North Carolina, the state legislature implemented a graduated driver's licensing (GDL) law that restricts teenagers' right to drive. The law places more restrictions on younger drivers and eases those restrictions as the driver increases in age.

A recent study analyzing the hospitalization rates for teen drivers in North Carolina shows that the GDL system is working. Since the GDL program went into effect, the hospitalization rate for teenagers between 16 and 19 years of age has decreased. The study concluded that the decrease was due to reduced exposure to dangerous situations (e.g. several teenagers in a single vehicle) than to improved driving skills.

Continue reading "Motor Vehicle Crashes Are Top Teen Killer In North Carolina" »