Personal Injury Lawyers > Personal Injury Blog > Motor Vehicle Accidents > National Safety Council Releases Paper on Distracted Driving Accidents

Personal Injury Blog

National Safety Council Releases Paper on Distracted Driving Accidents

The National Safety Council has released a white paper into the crash risks from distracted driving accidents. The paper is called Understanding the Distracted Brain: Why Driving While Using Hands-Free Cell Phones Is Risky Behavior.”  The report is an analysis of how current legislation in place in several states may not be addressing the problem of distracted driving adequately by merely banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

The National Safety Council white paper uses data from more than 30 scientific studies into the risks of distracted driving, to stress the dangers arising from multitasking while at the wheel. According to the white paper, drivers who are having a cell phone conversation while driving, may miss vital visual cues that enable them to drive safely. In fact, such motorists may miss up to 50% of vital information in their surroundings. These motorists may not be able to perceive immediate risks in their environment. For instance, they may fail to realize that the car is veering off the lane, or may fail to adequately judge the speed of the vehicle in front of them. Motorists having a conversation even on a hands-free cell phone, can become engaged in the conversation, and may become inattentive to their environment with potentially deadly consequences.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 11% of motorists are using cell phones at any given time. One out of every four accidents can be traced to the use of cell phones while driving. It’s not that motorists are not aware of the risks of texting, or using hand-held cell phones while driving. Even with the knowledge of all these risks, motorists continue to indulge in such distracted driving practices.

Several states including California, have enacted legislation banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. The logic behind such bans is that using hand-held cell phone requires the motorist to use their hand, taking it away from the steering wheel. According to the National Safety Council, a ban on hand-held cell phones may do little to eliminate the crash risks from distracted driving accidents.  The distraction comes from the conversation the person is having, and not so much by the fact that he’s using his hand to hold a cell phone to his ear.

There is truth to what the National Safety Council says.  Earlier this year, a study revealed a troubling fact – cell phone bans and legislations in several states have done nothing to reduce the number of accidents in the states. The study raised the question about the efficacy of such laws in limiting accidents. The researchers looked at four states that have bans on hand-held cell phones in place, and compared accident rates from before the ban to the months following the ban. No conceivable difference was seen. California car accident lawyers at the time had wondered whether this status quo in accident rates is because a ban on hand-held cell phones does not adequately address the problem of distracted driving.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of auto accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

---