If we are honest, most of us would have to admit that we have sent or received text messages while driving. Some of us do it regularly while some of us only occasionally -but most of us engage in text messaging while driving at some point. You may think that texting while driving concerns only apply to teenagers, but you are wrong. Statistics tell us that while teenagers do text more while driving, adults are texting as well. Nearly 50% of all teenagers admit that they frequently send and receive text messages while driving, but 20% of experienced adult drivers are texting as well.
According to personal injury attorney Emery Ledger, of Ledger & Associates, texting while driving can result in some of the most serious, and even fatal, accidents. His firm is currently representing one of the plaintiffs in the Chatsworth train accident, one of the worst train collisions in U.S. history. In that accident alone, 25 people were killed and many more seriously injured. The National Transportation Safety Board inquiry into the Chatsworth train accident showed that the engineer that was responsible for following signals on the tracks was sending and receiving text messages just seconds before his train collided head-on with another train. It appears as though he did not heed a red light that was intended to prevent the two trains from being on the same track at the same time. The nation’s highways may not be any safer. Texting while driving has been shown to be six times more likely to result in an accident than drinking and driving. We all know how dangerous drinking and driving can be, yet there is an even bigger danger out there in the form of a simple message. “Statistics tell us that we are 23% more likely to be in a car accident if we are texting while driving” according to personal injury attorney Emery Ledger.
Why is texting so dangerous? Texting is a distraction and anything that distracts us while driving creates a danger. In the seconds it takes to read or write a text message any number of things can happen on the road that require our attention. Clearly, if we are busy texting then we aren’t reacting to the changing road conditions as quickly as we need to in order to avoid an accident. Science tells us that we require at least one second to process changing road conditions. We then have to react to the condition. In total, it takes the average person about 6 seconds to be able to come to a complete stop if they are traveling at 60 m.p.h. This is a small window to react and stop in interstate traffic with virtually no margin for error. If you add in even the 2-3 seconds that your eyes were off the road reading or sending a text message, then the margin for error evaporates and an accident is inevitable.
So the next time you have the urge to communicate with someone while you are driving, use a hands-free device or pull over and send that urgent text message. And when your phone goes off telling you that you have a message, remember that waiting just a few minutes to read it may save your life.
If you have any additional questions about texting accidents or any other personal injury questions, please contact Emery Ledger online at www.ledgerlaw.com or toll-free at 1-800-300-0001.
