It’s all too handy to reach for that phone to read that latest message or send out a quick update on your arrival time- but your decision to engage in texting while driving endangers you and others. Far too many drivers recognize the catastrophic consequences of an accident after it’s too late.
Texting while driving has become a rampant problem across the U.S. Legislators and police officers are doing everything they can to curb the problem. Educational campaigns and laws aim to make drivers less likely to grab that phone, but so many drivers across age groups maintain a false sense of confidence about their own abilities to manipulate the machine. All it takes is just a couple of seconds looking at your phone while driving 55 miles per hour to travel the distance of a football field. If you’re texting while driving, that’s enough time to merge into another lane, cross the median into oncoming traffic, or miss the brake lights of the car ahead of you.
The Cognitive Impact of Texting While Driving
Besides taking your eyes away from the road in front of you, texting while driving removes a driver’s cognitive focus from what’s around them. Mentally, it takes time to snap back into “driving” mode, which means your reaction time is slower if you’ve been texting while driving and now need to refocus your attention. As any driver should know, all it takes is one second for a situation to become dangerous. If another driver swerves or a sudden accident halts traffic, you need to be prepared at all times.
Many of the texting while driving accidents happening throughout the country leave a gruesome accident scene behind.. A driver who engages in this behavior and survives may have to live with civil or criminal consequences after the fact in addition to the knowledge that his or her actions may have caused injuries or death.
Curbing Distracted Driving
The good news about texting while driving is that it’s completely voluntary. Drivers just need to stop doing it. Unlike other accidents caused by defective vehicle parts or unsafe road conditions, all drivers can enhance the safety for everyone by making a personal commitment to put down the phone and ignore it for the duration of the drive. It might seem like one little text can’t hurt– but as any number of distracted driving accident scenes prove, those few seconds are enough to claim a life or even multiple lives. There’s no walking back from a decision to send a text behind the wheel, especially if someone else gets hurt or killed because of your actions.
If you or someone you know has already suffered the consequences from a texting and driving accident, you may be eligible to file a personal injury claim to recover compensation — the lawyers at McDonald Worley are currently working with victims who have been injured or lost a loved one in these texting and driving accidents.