On any given night, this scenario is playing out in homes across the country: You are curled up on your couch, watching your favorite prime-time television drama when your phone rings. The tell-tale ring alerts you that it is a loved one calling, so you answer. However, you do not turn off the tv. Instead, you let the caller chat away, unable to tear your full attention away from the screen. Now, in this situation, one of two things happens. Either the loved one becomes annoyed, asking if you are listening to them when you give one word or inappropriate responses or, you miss a critical segment of your show. So, in the end, someone, you or your caller, is not happy with your decision to multi-task. Now if we as Americans cannot watch a television program and listen to a third party simultaneously, what makes us think we can operate a car while chatting on our cell phone?
While multi-tasking may be a sought after quality with some employers, it is more of a fatal flaw than an attribute in a motorist. Attempting to do anything more just drive while behind the wheel, is the basic definition of distracted driving. Sadly, distracted driving is the number one cause of traffic fatalities in the United States.
Talking and texting while driving are both extremely distracting behaviors. However, the problem has grown bigger than just these two issues. Social media apps and games, like “Pokemon Go” are becoming a cause for major concern. All cell phone usage is dangerous because it takes a driver’s focus off the task at hand. Even something as seemingly innocent as entering an address into a map app for directions should not be done while driving. Lawmakers and safety campaigns continue to try to encourage drivers to put down their phones.
But shockingly, Americans are often undaunted about the dangers that can result when a person is “multi-tasking” while driving close to 4,000 pounds of machinery at speeds of well over 50 miles per hour. Motorists often forget that certain tasks, like driving, require a person’s complete attention. For example, you would not want your cardiac surgeon browsing Facebook while he or she was performing a triple bypass. Although driving is not nearly as complicated as open heart surgery, it does require the same complete focus.
Distracted driving is not just a cell phone problem. NPR reported, for example, that more than 25 percent of teenage drivers admitted to changing clothes or shoes while driving. Teens also reported to changing contact lenses, doing homework and applying makeup behind the wheel. But distracted driving cannot be blamed on teenage drivers either. According to a study, almost 50 percent of drivers over the age of 35 admitted to eating while driving. All motorists need to remember that all it takes is one little error or miscalculation and lives are changed forever.
If your loved one was serious injured or killed after being involved in an auto accident with a distracted driver, you need to contact an experienced Kansas City Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney right away. The seasoned Kansas City Injury Attorneys at Hubbard & Kurtz, L.L.P. will work with you to make sure you receive the compensation you are due. Our team of skilled Attorneys will work diligently to make sure that justice is served. You can trust the Personal Injury Attorneys at Hubbard & Kurtz, L.L.P. to work for you, just as they have worked for countless injury victims around the area, both in Kansas and Missouri. To set up a consultation with one of our compassionate Injury Attorney contact Hubbard & Kurtz, L.L.P. today at (816) 472-4673.
