Florida Distracted Driving Accidents

Florida, just like the rest of the United States, is experiencing an increase in distracted driving accidents. In 2015, 45,740 distracted driving accidents occurred on Florida roads – causing around 40,000 people to suffer injuries. The CEO of State Auto Financial Corp. called the rise in distracted driving accidents “an epidemic issue for this country”.

When people think about distracted driving, the first thing that comes to mind is texting and driving. Surprisingly, according to a recent study by the National Academy of Sciences, texting while driving is not the most dangerous distraction when driving.

DRIVING DISTRACTIONS 

The study quantifies distractions that sober and healthy drivers face when driving. Their research claims that out of the 11 million auto accidents in the United States every year, 4 million accidents could be avoided if there were no distractions present. The study then ranked the 5 most dangerous driving distractions.

• Dialing 10 or More Digits on Your Cell Phone – Drivers who dial on their cell phones are 12.2 times more likely to be involved in an auto accident.
• Reaching for an Object – When drivers reach for objects while driving are 9 times more likely to be involved in an auto accident.
•  Texting and Driving – Drivers who text and drive are 6.1 times more likely to be involved in an auto accident.
• Using a Touch-Screen Menu – Drivers who use touch-screen menus while driving are 4.6 times more likely to be involved in an auto accident.
• Changing the Car Radio – Changing the car radio doubles the risk of being involved in a car accident.

These dangerous driving distractions show that taking your eyes off the road, even for a couple seconds, is extremely dangerous. According to NHTSA, when driving with your eyes off the road for 5 seconds at 55mph, is equivalent to traveling the length of a football field blindfolded. Unfortunately, many people understand the consequences of distracted driving, but continue to still drive while distracted.

SOUTH FLORIDA DISTRACTED DRIVING ACCIDENTS 

When driving in South Florida, we’ve all seen drivers distracted by their cell phones. We have also seen the rise in distracted driving accidents. In 2015, there were 10,401 distracted driving accidents in South Florida. What is most disturbing about this statistic, is the fact that so many individuals have been injured or killed because of these accidents. Out of the over 10,000 distracted driving accidents in South Florida – 7,850 people suffered injuries and 30 lost their lives.

According to a recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teens have the highest rate of crashes of any group in the United States. The study shows that 60% of teen car accidents are caused by distracted driving. Fortunately, there are 7 apps that can help prevent teenagers from using cell phones when driving.

1. TextArrest: allows parents to control the way a phone can be used when in a moving vehicle. It will notify parents when a teenage driver overrides the TextArrest function, travels outside a certain area, or exceeds the speed limit.
2. CellControl: The app prevents behaviors such as texting, using social media, taking selfies, playing games, and much more. These behaviors have to defined ahead of time, and it can be set to monitor whether or not a teenage driver is using their phone responsibly.
3. Live2Txt: It sends a message to anyone sending a text or a call to the teenage driver’s phone that the individual is driving. The app also turns off texts and incoming calls on command.
4. DriveSafe.ly: reads incoming text messages and emails as they come in. It prevents the drivers from looking at their phone when they’re on the road.
5. Drive Scribe: The app blocks incoming texts and calls when the car is traveling above a certain speed.
6. Canary: App provides text notification to a parent any time a teenage driver texts, tweets, or answers calls when driving. It will also provide notifications when the teenage driver exceeds a certain a speed or travels outside a set perimeter on the map.
7. TextLimit: prevents features on a cell phone from functioning when the phone is moving above a certain speed.

It is on us drivers to fix this distracted driving epidemic. We need to do everything in our power to prevent ourselves from being distracted when driving. We have witnessed way too many people lose their lives from distracted driving accidents here in Florida and all across the United States.

If you or your loved one has been injured by a distracted driver in Florida, speak with personal injury attorney Devon Workman today for your free case review.