P.I. Pulse: Report Shows Over 40% of Teens Text While Driving

Our experienced personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg represent individuals who have been injured due to the negligence of others, whether or not that negligence occurs on a construction site, in a supermarket or – as is most often the case – on the roadway. Many drivers, often while distracted, choose to drive recklessly, thereby risking the safety of not only themselves, but also everyone with whom they share the road.

Unfortunately, as TIME recently reported, despite ever-increasing numbers of public service announcements warning about the dangers of texting while driving (something that is illegal in the Sunshine State), a new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that roughly 41% of teenagers admit to texting while driving. Sure enough, although teenagers no longer watch as much television or smoke as many cigarettes as they were a decade or two ago, they have evidently found new outlets for risk-taking.

To be sure, it’s safe to assume that the vast majority of individuals who assume the risk of texting while driving are not acting maliciously or with the intent of harming other people. Still, it is downright reckless and unequivocally negligent to drive while texting, for it is common knowledge (backed up with scientific evidence produced by the Virginia Tech’s Transportation Department), that you are 23 timesmore likely to crash when you are texting while driving as opposed to driving while not texting. Despite federal recognition of the well documented and horrifying dangers of texting while driving, there is currently no national regulation of texting while driving – such limitations are issued by the individual states. As noted earlier, Florida does have a law against texting while driving, which took effect on October 1st of last year.

So, why exactly is it a problem that teenagers text while driving? In other words, how does the text messaging affect teenagers’ driving skills? The main reason why texting and driving is so dangerous is that it requires multitasking that cannot safely be done; text messaging requires a devotion of attention that should otherwise be focused on the road.

Reaching for your phone, opening up a text conversation, reading a text, composing a new one, pressing “send,” and then putting your phone back are all attention-heavy activities. They require your focus. As a minimum, you spend 5 seconds looking away from the road to send a text. Teenagers who drive while texting are so distracted that, according to a study, teens who text while driving spend roughly 10% of their driving time outside of their lane!

If you have been injured by someone who was driving while distracted, please contact our experienced Palm Beach and Broward County personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg. To schedule a free consultation, you can give us a call at 561-266-9191 or e-mail us at daronberg@build.simple.biz.

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