At our law firm, we fight for financial compensation for Delawareans wrongly injured in motor vehicle accidents involving trucks, SUVs, cars, vans, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians because of distracted driving. This negligent driving behavior not only involves illegal use of handheld mobile phones, but also many other distracting behaviors.
January 2020 survey
Disturbingly, according to a new survey by The Zebra of 2,000 people, about 37% of those responding are in complete agreement that mobile device usage behind the wheel interferes with safe driving – yet almost 30% of them admit that the most common distraction they engage in while driving is texting. Might this suggest that the public awareness campaigns across the country to put pressure on drivers to put their phones away are raising awareness, but not curbing dangerous behavior enough?
Not surprisingly, almost 10% of respondents to the survey ages 25 to 34 felt strong pressure to respond immediately to texts and about 7% felt strong pressure to respond to work texts and emails while behind the wheel.
The broader problem
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that every day, about nine people die and over 1,000 are injured because of distracted drivers.
Driver distractions, which can be manual (taking hands off the wheel), visual (taking eyes off the road), auditory (listening to sound other than road and traffic noise) or cognitive (interrupting concentration on or thinking about driving), may include:
- Using mobile phones or other devices to talk, text, interact with email, use the internet, access social media, take photos or videos, play games and engage in other technological activity
- Eating and drinking
- Putting on makeup or other grooming
- Picking up something from the vehicle floor
- Interacting with passengers
- Gawking at accidents or other events outside the vehicle
- Reaching for buttons and dials on the dashboard or steering wheel
- Daydreaming or not concentrating on driving
- Dealing with children or pets in the vehicle
- Reaching for objects
- Smoking
- Checking navigation
Despite recent Delaware governmental campaigns against distracted driving (“Don’t Be the You You Hate” and “Don’t Drive Intoxicated. Don’t Drive Intexticated”), state officials flagged distracted driving as a factor in 6,095 accidents in Delaware in 2017, according to Trusted Choice.
Remember if you are the victim of a crash from the distracted and negligent driving behavior of another person to pursue information about your potential legal remedies.
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