Texting while driving is just as dangerous if not more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. I know that readers may think my statement is ridiculous; but if one really thinks about what senses one must use for driving a car it can easily be understood that we need to see the road ahead as we drive. As a Palm Desert auto accident attorney who has handled thousands of auto accident personal injury cases I can report that most accidents occur because drivers are looking away from what is ahead of them just before the accident occurs. They don't see that the traffic signal is red or that the car ahead of them is stopped. If you drive while intoxicated your perception, reaction time, and judgment are normally impaired which may cause an accident with resulting personal injuries. But I assure the reader that if you drive while texting there will be seconds or longer that you cannot see what is ahead of your car or beside your car. I am not suggesting that people drive while intoxicated because I can write hundreds of pages about the devastated families who I have represented who have suffered the wrongful death of a loved one killed in a car crash because of a drunk driver. I am currently representing a client who lost a leg in a Palm Springs car accident because the driver of a truck was using his cell phone and texting when he pulled his truck onto East Palm Canyon from an intersecting street in violation of my client's right of way. This Palm Springs truck accident was not caused by a drunk driver; but by a negligent truck driver using his cell phone.
What is really scary is that the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has just reported that when interviewed one out of three high school students admitted that they had engaged in texting or actually emailing while driving during the month of May 2012. The report revealed some positive news about teenage behavior related to driving or riding in automobiles. There has been a steady rise in the use of seatbelts. The teens related that they have become less inclined to get in the car with a drunken friend who wanted to drive. They also reported that they recognize the danger of their driving if they had been drinking alcohol. And yet with this good news comes the alarming information about the dangerous use of cell phones and texting which is dramatically increasing. This new technology carries new risks for our youth and the innocent drivers involved in a car crash caused by a texting teen.
A teen from Massachusetts has just been sentenced to more than two years in prison for texting while driving which caused the death of another driver. Accidents in the Coachella Valley that are investigated by our local police agencies in Indio, La Quinta, Desert Hot Springs, Palm Desert and the CHP on Interstate 10 report on the traffic accident form whether or not a driver involved in a traffic accident was using a cell phone at the time of the accident. I have used that information as a Coachella Valley personal injury lawyer suing the cell phone using negligent driver for my client's injuries.
Contact the Palm Springs personal injury lawyer at Barry Regar APLC now for any questions about your auto accident and injuries.