Straight Talk Law Blog: Progress In The Distracted Driving Battle?

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By Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer Jason Epstein

Are we really winning the war against distracted driving?

In my new article, “The National Fight Against Distracted Driving Car Accidents,” I wrote about the recent Distracted Driving Summit held recently by the U.S. government in Washington, D.C.

At the summit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the welcome news that the actual number of distracted driving wrongful deaths and cases of personal injury declined by 6% and 4% respectively. Special notice was given to the fact that 12 more states had passed anti-distracted driving laws designed to prevent car accidents in the past year.

As a personal injury lawyer practicing law in Seattle, Washington, I, of course, applaud these efforts to prevent more needless tragedy. In this era of hand held phones that get smarter and smarter, it would be a mistake for us to get less smart by continuing to use these gadgets while we’re behind the wheel.

But, at the same time, I can’t help but look more closely at the figures, which also state that, distracted driving accounted for 16 percent of the traffic fatalities – the exact same percentage as in 2008, according to statistics from the National Highway Safety Administration. That indicates to me that overall wrongful deaths from all car accidents fell, not just those caused by distracted driving.

Perhaps it is progress that distracted driving fatalities haven’t increased year-to-year. Considering the proliferation of hand-held phones and devices as well as the increase in the number of things they can do, just standing still certainly might be a good sign.

Taking a more long-view look, however, the number of wrongful deaths caused by distracted driving has actually increased 10 percent since 2005. Most significantly, the greatest proportion of distracted drivers is in the under-20 age group. That’s why we must continue to educate teens about the dangers of distracted driving and why I invite all teens to take the pledge not to text and drive at my website, www.TeensAgainstDistractedDriving.com.

In any event, it’s clear that awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, both at the community and the government level, is higher than it’s ever been. That, alone, has to be seen as progress.

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