San Diego Injury Lawyers Blog

Almost 500 people were affected by distracted driving in the space of about a week, and those are only the ones we know about. San Diego County sheriff's deputies teamed up with the California Highway Patrol to crackdown on distracted driving for almost an entire week. The result? Tickets were issued to 467 adults and three juveniles for driving while texting or talking on their cell phones. That was not all, officers did make note of more than 500 different times that drivers were seen violating cell phone related laws.

San Diego car accident lawyers are concerned about the prevalence of distracted driving and the amount of citations and observances made shows, very clearly, that distracted driving is a "traffic safety" matter to be very concerned about. The California State Office of Traffic Safety has also illustrated that accidents and injuries are four times more likely to occur to drivers who use hand-held devices! That is very troubling for anyone on the road. The irony is that drivers are aware of the high risk and they still take it! Many of the drivers cited during this weeklong crackdown indicated that they were aware that the crackdown was taking place and still they continued to use their hand-held devices. In that same survey issued by California's Office of Traffic Safety nearly 40% of drivers listed texting or cell phone use while driving as the #1 safety concern for drivers!

Minimum fines are $159 for the first offense, after that the fine jumps up more than $100 to $279. Officers offer a simple solution, if you absolutely need to respond to a text, or take a call while you are driving pull over or stop somewhere and park your car. Resume driving once you are done and can pay attention to driving, which is the way to insure safely arriving at your destination. Unfortunately, using a hands-free mobile device doesn't seem to lower the level of distraction when it comes to driving. Since July of 2008 California adopted a zero tolerance law for any driver under 18 years of age, absolutely no hand-held of hands-free mobile devices are to be used while driving. Drivers over 18 may use hands-free devices.

Continue reading "San Diego Police Are Taking Distracted Driving Very Seriously, You Should Too" »

Distracted driving is a topic that is definitely gathering momentum throughout the country. Many state officials have taken the initiative to put into place legislation that would keep distractions at, hopefully, lower levels. For the District of Columbia and 28 states, a ban on texting while driving has been put in place. But the bigger the vehicle the bigger the harm done when an accident takes place. If the driver of an 18 wheeler is distracted while driving and ends up in an accident the injuries, and possibly fatalities, would be very serious.

Another move in the direction of decreasing distracted driving occurrences was when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented a ban on texting while driving for commercial bus and truck drivers. With the solid evidence against distracted driving and truck drivers there is no denying something had to be done. Truck drivers are up to 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident than truck drivers that do not text and drive. Alarming evidence such as this could have possibly led the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's preventative steps. They do not want to stop there with their preventative measures. The Administration is hoping to invoke a ban on various activities, including the use of CB radios and dispatch systems, that also distract bus and truck drivers and could potentially lead to an accident.

Truck driving has begun to get more high tech with computers being used in the tractor-trailer cabs of the truck. The computers have the good intentions of being used to assist the drivers in keeping in touch with their trucking companies. The computers make it easier for the truck company to send companywide messages or relay orders, these kind of communications help the truck driver and company work more efficiently together. Even with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration being aware of the texting while driving issue being a high priority the agency is still considering what needs to be done to limit other distractions. The computers in the cabs will be a topic to address.

Continue reading "San Diego Bus And Truck Drivers Are No Longer Allowed To Text While Driving" »