If you spend any time at all watching California drivers in traffic, you’re bound to see quite a few of them sneakily glancing at their cellphones. In some cases they leave their phones in plain view of police or other drivers, and in other they try to subtly hide them. The truth is that there’s lots of evidence that smartphones are addictive and cause people to act compulsively.
The result is that many drivers in California break the law every day and text while they’re driving. But is this really that bad? We’ve heard before that texting while driving is as dangerous as driving while drunk but could this be true? At Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, we’ve seen many car accidents that are the result of people driving while texting. Read on to learn how dangerous this really is and then contact us at 909-982-0707 if you’ve been injured by a driver who was texting while driving.
It seems that texting while driving is getting more dangerous
If you’re one of the many people who believe that texting while driving isn’t that serious, that you’re just taking your eyes off the road for “a second,” consider that on average you’re actually taking your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds to send a text or to read a text that’s coming in.
To put that in perspective, if you’re driving 55 miles per hour and you take your eyes off the road for just 4.6 seconds, that’s the length of a full football field. That’s the equivalent of putting on a blind fold and driving down the interstate with it on. Would you do that in the middle of Los Angeles traffic? It’s unlikely that you would yet it leads to accidents every day.
The stats are going to shock you
We warned you! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s latest stats are shocking: Texting while driving is not only more dangerous than driving under the influence, it’s six times more dangerous! This may seem as though it can’t be true, but we invite you to again consider the size of a football field.
In fact, every year an estimated 3,000 people die as a result of a texting while driving accident. Another 330,000 people sustained other injuries, including catastrophic injuries. If this isn’t enough information to convince you that you shouldn’t text while driving then we encourage you to think of the civil and criminal penalties you may face if you’re involved in an accident while texting.
Do you need help holding someone accountable for driving while texting?
Were you injured in an accident in which the other party was texting while they were driving? Do you want to hold them accountable? Then your next step is to call Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707. We’ll start off with a free case evaluation. We’ll get the facts from you, ask the questions we need to ask, and then give you our expert opinion about whether or not you have a case. Call today and start moving forward.
