As the 2014 session drew to its close, the Mississippi House killed a ban on texting-while-driving. The argument set forth by Representative Bill Denny of the Mississippi House, who made the procedural motion that shelved the bill, justifying this decision was that texting is no more dangerous than any other distraction while driving. Those who were pushing for the bill were upset by the decision to kill the bill because it was a compromise that had started the fines at a low level and classified the offense for texting-while-driving as a civil rather than a criminal one.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Mississippi is one of seven states that allow all drivers to text behind the wheel. Several states have banned texting for novice drivers while 39 states and the District of Columbia have banned texting for all drivers. When a person is texting and driving, sending a text takes a person’s attention off the road for approximately five seconds for even the briefest of texts. During that time, a vehicle will travel the length of a football field when traveling at 55 miles per hour. That is a significant distance where the driver is not aware of what is happening on the roadway in front of the car. This is one of the reasons why there are more than one million accidents each year where a cell phone was involved.
The National Safety Council has just released its annual injury and fatality report, titled Injury Facts, which states that the use of cell phones caused 26% of all the car accidents in the country. This is a slight increase from the numbers released in 2013. Of the 26% of cell phone-related car accidents, only 5% of those involved a situation where the driver was texting while driving. Those who oppose bans on texting while driving will view this data as justification for the decision. However, it is believed that these is a significant under-reporting of texting and cell phone usage by a large number of researchers.
In contrast to the reports that suggest texting and driving is no more of a danger than any other distraction, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that that texting is particularly dangerous because it covers all three types of distraction, which are:
- Visual – removing your eyes from the road;
- Manual – removing your hands from the steering wheel; and
- Cognitive – focusing on something other than driving.
The CDC reports that distracted driving involving cell phone use is much higher in the United States than in other countries. In fact, 31% of American drivers between the ages of 18 to 64 admitted to reading or sending text messages or reviewing an e-mail while driving. Although Portugal did reach similar levels, other European nations were less than half that rate.
According to the analysis done by the CDC, young drivers under 20 years old are at a greater risk of getting into an accident while texting and have the highest rate of distracted driving fatalities. In addition, a young passenger who gets in the car with someone who is texting and driving is almost twice as likely to get in the car with someone who has been drinking than another high school-aged person who does not text and drive, demonstrating a link between the risky behaviors.
Regardless of the dangers of texting and driving, do not be surprised when the person traveling at high rates of speed in the next lane of the highway takes the time to update their profile page – the legislature says that is perfectly okay.
When you or loved ones are injured in a distracted driving accident, there may be a long and difficult recovery ahead of you. The knowledgeable and dedicated auto accident attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC are determined to get you the compensation that you deserve because you were injured when someone did not think the world should wait for news about a haircut or plans for the weekend. We will work to hold the person accountable for his or her negligent actions. To set up an initial consultation, call us at (800) 707-9577. We will only be paid if we recover damages for you.