Yet.

That’s the key word in the equation — “yet.” But not having had a cell phone accident — yet –  doesn’t mean distracted driving won’t cause one. In fact, distractions can be fatal. Just ask families of the 6,000 Americans killed in distracted driving car crash accidents per year, or the half a million persons injured.

Or ask the New York air traffic controller who was found to be making a personal call while juggling flight routes, and the distraction proved fatal. The controller was talking with a friend on a headset when crucial errors occurred, and as a result, a plane collided with a tour helicopter over the Hudson River and nine people died.

The same thing happens on our roads every day. But it didn’t use to — not like now. For decades, millions of Americans made phone calls when it was prudent and time to do so. They didn’t interrupt a delightful dinner to field a needless call about what their kid was watching on TV. They didn’t drive with one hand on the wheel while they dialed a neighbor to ask if it was trash night. And they didn’t do their jobs while keeping one ear on a cell phone and half their thoughts on their duty.

But now, Americans are addicted to cell phones just as surely as junkies are hooked on drugs. They call and talk endlessly, which means the things they’re supposed to be doing otherwise — such as driving a car or supervising air traffic, both of which are vital tasks where inattention can mean death — get neglected.

How many deaths, and how many tragedies, will it take for a nation to wake up and recognize the enormously serious problem in its midst? Needless multi-tasking isn’t worth the risk to you, your loved ones or other people on the roads, or in the air. Some things need our full attention. But too many such things aren’t getting it.

We get it at USA Legal Help Center, and we’ll help if you or a family member suffers harm due to a driver’s negligence and driving distractions.

Meanwhile, ask yourself: How many phone calls have you ever made which were life-or-death matters? Chances are it’s been zero. So don’t turn a routine call into a life-or-death car accident. Hang up and drive.

According to the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), no reduction in crashes occurred in New York, Connecticut, California and Washington, D.C. after bans on drivers using handheld cell phones took effect. This was based on assessing insurance claims for car crash damages.

Why? That’s a good question, since the link between cell phones and traffic deaths has been clearly established. One conclusion could be that fewer drivers in those states chose to heed the law and continued texting and talking, anyway.

Another possibility is that drivers who’d used handheld phones changed to bluetooth devices or other hands-free phones. Research shows that those phones also involve dangerous driver distractions. So, states changing the law and then drivers changing phones didn’t help.

Answers may be elusive, but they will come — and they must come, because Americans are being slaughtered by those who think driving a heavy vehicle in heavy traffic isn’t important enough when they want to divert themselves by phoning or texting inconsequential messages to friends.

All laws which seek to restrict if not outlaw such driving distractions and cell phone accidents are basically common sense laws. And they aren’t meant to punish, but to protect. After all, every person who drives also has hours each day when they aren’t driving, and those hours are the times to make phone calls, send text messages or surf the Web. Looking away even for a moment while traffic whizzes by is not the right time. It’s the potentially fatal time.

Such laws and their results will bear watching in the years ahead, as American comes to terms with cell phone fixations — even  addictions — of so many citizens. But flatline results in three states do not mean we should back off and cede the progress already made. They only mean we should re-examine our efforts and work harder. The payoff — in spared lives and in whole families — is certainly worth it.

USA Legal Help Center.com supports victims of distracted driving car crash accidents. A cell phone accident lawyer can seek financial compensation in a cell phone accident lawsuit or distracted driver lawsuit.

Since it’s not enough to say “Hang up and drive” and expect everyone to do it, anymore than it’s not enough to say “Just say no” to drugs and expect everyone to do it, states are passing laws to, in effect, legislate common sense. Up to 18 states and the District of Columbia now have laws on the books making texting while driving illegal.

Some will say this can’t do any good, since it will be difficult if not impossible for law officers to discern if drivers are texting while driving. But the same argument was made regarding seat belt laws, and those have helped save many thousands of lives. Besides, texts and cell calls leave an electronic trail, including times. It wouldn’t be that hard to determine if a driver was using his or her phone at the precise time of an accident.

The trucking industry thinks it should be above such laws and not have to obey. It argues that truckers use computers in their vehicles to stay in touch with fleet managers and so forth. But that’s no excuse. Taking your eyes off the road even for a second can be just the wrong second, leading to a horrendous semi truck accident. And besides, idle checking of computer screens is probably the indulgence of many truck drivers, not sending or receiving crucial information.

All of us who use America’s roads have a responsibility — to ourselves and to each other — to make driving safety our chief priority. When chatting endlessly to a friend or texting a colleague becomes the priority instead, tragedy can ensue. That’s not an opinion — it’s a fact. So yes, hang up and drive. But do so because you know and understand how important it is, not just because you were told to do so.

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.

USA-LegalHelpCenter.com can provide you with the lawyer or attorney you need for your personal injury concerns in all 50 states of the USA. Simply fill out and submit the free case evaluation form on this Web page and a legal representative will respond promptly to explore your case.

And don’t worry: Our staff won’t be driving or otherwise multi-tasking when they call you, but will give you their full attention.

A recent survey for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. reveals that 19 per cent of motorists admit to texting while driving. The real amount is probably higher, since not everyone will admit doing something so stupid. In fact, another survey in Massachusetts indicates that 28 per cent of people text while driving.

Another survey shows that 26 per cent of mobile phone users tend to text while driving — and that 60 per cent of drivers 16 to 19 years old text while operating the two-ton machine known as a car.

Such behavior, in effect, is unleashing millions more drunk drivers on America’s roads. That’s because text-messaging distractions, as studies show, are the equivalent of being drunk while driving, hampering attention, reaction and overall ability to drive.

Californians had had enough of that, so the state passed a law taking effect Jan. 1, 2009, making it illegal to send, receive or read text messages while driving. California thus joins Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Washington, Utah, Connecticut and Alaska as states outlawing texting while driving, along with the District of Columbia.   Arkansas, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia will join their ranks later this year when their new laws take effect.

Such laws won’t change the world, but they are a step in the right direction. California also has had laws in effect since last July requiring drivers who use cell phones to have hands-free headsets and prohibiting drivers under 18 from using any type of electronic communication while driving.

Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are suffering injury and death due to distracted drivers who decide that making routine calls or texts while en route are worth the risk of a life-shattering traffic accident.

If you or a loved one has suffered harm due to such a distracted driver, contact a car accident lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates for help. The long-established Texas personal injury law firm has a history of standing up for individuals who have endured loss due to others’ negligence or recklessness. Via USA-LegalHelpCenter.com, we also can provide you legal assistance in all 50 states.

Fill out the free case review form on this web page and let an experienced cell phone accident lawyer steer you toward a just and fair financial recovery.

Texting while driving may remain legal in Texas and  most other states, but negligent or reckless driving which causes harm to others is still against the law. If such driving has victimized you or a loved one, let a  car accident lawyer for Jim “the Hammer” Adler come to your rescue.