After carnage of car accidents, USA steers course to ban texting while driving
State by state, Americans are standing up to resist today’s avalanche of driver distractions, largely spurred by the cell phone industry. And now the federal government is trying to help, too.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, on behalf of President Obama, is calling for a national summit of safety experts to address the explosion of irresponsible driving that’s accompanied the invention of cell phones and texting. Millions of Americans talk by cell and send texts while driving, and many of them have killed their fellow Americans in the process.
So far, 17 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws making texting while driving illegal. Congress also is mulling legislation which would cut states’ highway funding by 25 per cent if they failed to pass such laws.
Meanwhile, the car carnage continues, from the horror of an individual’s accident, as when an Illinois teen died in June when she drove off the road during a text, to the grim horror of the California commuter train which crashed and killed 25 people — all because the inattentive train operator was texting.
Since common sense isn’t preventing this national nightmare, laws must intervene. Of course, some say such laws can’t matter, since it’s difficult to enforce a ban on texting while driving when it’s hard to observe outside the car. But naysayers once said seatbelt laws wouldn’t work for the same reason, and today’s widespread adherence to seatbelts has saved thousands–perhaps millions–of lives.
Study after study has demonstrated that texting while driving severely hampers a person’s driving ability. In fact, studies by Car and Driver Magazine, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and others show that texters drive as badly as persons who are legally drunk.
Beyond legislation, it’s vital that educational efforts also help stem the tide. If anything, vast numbers of Americans simply need a wakeup call about an obvious and vast problem which their texting fixation ignores.
But if it’s too late for your or a loved one, and you’ve been harmed by a texting driver in a traffic accident, fight back in the legal realm by claiming financial compensation for your loss.
Alert a cell phone accidents lawyer or car accidents lawyer today with USA-LegalHelpCenter.com, and get experienced legal support on your side.
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auto accident, car accident, cell phone accident, traffic accident