Distracted Drivers – Think Before You Text!

I am stopped at a light on Hennepin on my way home with by 3 year old son chatting away about his busy day at daycare, when I glance over beside me and the person directly to my left is texting up a storm. The driver in front of me is on the phone, and the one behind me is either a) picking his nose with his phone or b) clearly getting ready to make a call. I am pinned in! What is going on with today’s drivers? Do they not notice I have a 3 year old in a car seat, or don’t they care? Probably the latter.

I cannot claim to have ignored a text message when I have received one driving down the road, but as an injury attorney I know the consequences of what happens if you roll the dice by texting while driving. Sooner or later you are going to hit someone and the consequences can be catastrophic. Not only are you gambling with your life but everyone else around you. And after the crash happens that you never think will happen to you, it is too late to repair the damage, or even worse heal their injuries, or let us be very realistic, give them their life back.

More and more, distracted driving is becoming one of the leading causes of car crashes. Statistically, it has been proven that talking on your cell phone is just as dangerous as someone who is just over the legal alcohol limit and is charged with drunk driving. In Minnesota, and across the country, juries are making people and companies pay when the cause of an accident is due to distracted driving while using their smart phones, cell phones, iWhatever. Here is a sobering article that brings it all home.