Florida Distracted Driving Injury Blog

According to studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver distraction is estimated to be the cause of approximately 25-30% of all roadway collisions in the United States each year. When hearing the term "driver distraction" most people think of talking on cell phones, or eating while driving.

Distracted diving continues to be one of the leading causes of automobile accidents. Distracted driving endangers passengers, other drivers, and pedestrians. Based on the U.S. Department of Transportation, last year, 3,328 people were killed in distracted driving related collisions. The worst part about this is that most people, whether they realize it or not, are [...]

While drinking and driving was the hot topic in past decades, the newest killer on the roads is often caused by an item few people even had twenty years ago. Distracted driving has become the hot topic, causing an estimated 15 auto accident deaths a day with cell phones being one of the top contributors.

If you follow my blog, I regularly discuss the dangers and issues associated with texting and driving and distracted driving in general. 80% of drivers admit to engaging in distracted driving such as texting, shaving, applying makeup, steering with a knee and reading. In a controlled study performed by the Editorial staff at Car & [...]

As a Florida personal injury attorney, I have seen a substantial increase in distracted driver related accidents. With the proliferation of the use of mobile phones over the past ten years, texting and driving has become commonplace and acceptable behavior by the younger segment of society.

I cannot over emphasize this very important message (and if you haven't already, watch my video on this same topic). Please check out a recent study performed by the editorial staff at Car & Driver Magazine. Rigging a car with a red light to alert drivers when to brake, the magazine tested how long it [...]

"Distracted driving is any activity that takes your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, or your mind off your primary task of driving safely," says Doug Smith, senior vice president of personal lines at Erie Insurance. Cigarette smoking is certainly one such activity.

Distracted diving continues to be one of the leading causes of automobile accidents. Distracted driving endangers passengers, other drivers, and pedestrians. Based on the U.S. Department of Transportation, last year, 3,328 people were killed in distracted driving related collisions. The worst part about this is that most people, whether they realize it or not, are [...]

Beginning in October 2013, the State of Florida made it illegal to send and read text messages while driving, and while AAA called this law's adoption "a good step" , the possible effectiveness of the law has been questioned by others. The reality is that the law is a step in the right direction with [...]

The factor that makes drowsy driving so dangerous is this: usually you're already out of the comfort of your home when you become tired, and the only way to rest is to get back to your home. A good friend of mine is famous for making crazy decisions that severely hinder his attentiveness while driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety administration conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. Even more mind boggling is that according to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60% of adult drivers (about 168 million people) say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third (37% or 103 million people), have actually fallen asleep at the wheel [1]. This has ushered in the fact that fatigued-driving is one of the National Transportation Safety Board’s problems to address in their 2016 Most Wanted List of transportation safety improvements. This list focuses on 10 broad safety improvements on which the NTSB has made recommendation that have not yet been implemented.

Getting behind the wheel of a car after only four or five hours of sleep increases the risk of being involved in an auto accident as much as driving drunk per to new research by AAA. The December…

Since the advent of cellular phones, GPS navigation systems, and other portable electronic devices, automobile accidents resulting from distracted driving have been on the rise. Florida, unfortunately, is no exception, according to statistics provided by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.1

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles,1 each year approximately 200 Floridians are killed, 3,000 suffer incapacitating injuries, and 10,600 to 32,000 suffer personal injuries as the result of “distracted driving.” In Florida, “distracted driving” is defined as a crash that occurs because a driver was doing one or more of the following:

http://www.dolmanlaw.com/practice-area/automobile-accidents/

You may consider yourself a good driver and express frustration at the other bad drivers on the road. But could you be guilty of one or more bad habits that lead to car crashes? Or have you been the victim of someone else’s bad habit that caused a car accident? If you or your loved one has been injured in a car accident, it is important to contact an experienced Florida car accident attorney right away to discuss the laws that apply to your case and the compensation you deserve.
(click on this article to learn more)

Since the relatively recent invention of cellular phones, navigation systems, and other portable electronic devices, automobile accidents resulting from distracted driving have been steadily increasing. Florida, unfortunately, is no exception, according to recent statistics provided by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
(click on this article to learn more)

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports that as of April 30, 2016, there were 122,399 auto collisions in the state of Florida involving 79,467 injuries and 852 fatalities.  In Pinellas County alone there were 5,836 accidents involving 3,399 injuries and 28 fatalities during that same time period.   While it is unclear exactly how many of those Florida collisions were caused by distracted driving, distractaction.gov provides that in 2014, 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.
(click on this article to learn more)

While the numbers are jarring, it should not surprise anyone to learn that drowsy driving can be so dangerous. When people are tired or sleep deprived, their reaction times are slowed, their decision-making is impaired, and they are simply less able to pay attention to the road, other drivers, and potential hazards. In fact, while certainly everyone (even those who do it) would agree that drunk driving is extremely hazardous to one’s health, many people fail to consider that the effects of sleep deprivation are very similar to the effects of alcohol. According to a study released by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, even “moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication”(3) The study found that test subjects, after 17-19 hours without sleep performed equal to or worse than test subjects without any level of sleep deprivation but who had blood alcohol content levels of 0.05% (which is just .03% below the legal limit in the state of Florida).

Florida Ranked Number Two in Distracted Drivers
The study, which was conducted through EverQuote’s motion-sensing Everdrive app, logged 2.7 million vehicle trips throughout the United States and measured driving behaviors such as; sudden acceleration, speeding, hard braking, and other aggressive movements while motorists were using their cell phone. The study found that more than 90 percent of drivers polled used their cell phone while driving and Florida ranked second worst for distracted driving, according to their point-based analysis. Louisiana drivers ranked the worst. But why does it matter?
(click on this article to learn more)