THE DANGER OF DISTRACTED DRIVING

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, NHTSA, distracted driving claims 3,522 lives in 2021. Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system — anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving. Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.  

NHTSA leads the fight nationally against distracted driving by educating Americans about its dangers and partnering with the states and local police to enforce laws against distracted driving that help keep us safe. NHTSA’s campaigns and public service announcements make the case to Americans that safe driving means driving without distractions.  

During the pandemic, American drivers got even more distracted by their phones while driving. The amount of distracted driving hasn’t receded, even as life has mostly stabilized. Both phone motion and screen interaction while driving went up roughly 20 percent between 2020-2022. Drivers interacted with their phones on nearly 58% of trips in 2022, and more than a third of that phone motion distraction happened at over 50 mph.

Not surprisingly, fatalities on U.S. roads have increased along side the increase in distracted driving. In 2020, 38,824 people died on US roads. In 2021, that number rose to 42,915 people, and the highest number of pedestrians were killed in 40 years. In 2022, the overall deaths stayed high, around 42,795, among them 7,508 pedestrians. The United States is increasingly an outlier when it comes to traffic fatalities, with rates 50 percent higher than its peers. Data suggests that the high percentage of U.S. drivers engaging in risky behaviors—using their cell phone while driving—is one reason for the disparity between highway fatalities in the U.S. and abroad. The most distracted drivers are over 240 percent more likely to crash than the safest drivers. In addition, the rise of smartphone use roughly corresponds to the rise in pedestrian fatalities: About 4,600 people were killed while walking in 2007, the year the iPhone was introduced. By 2021, with 85 percent of Americans owning smartphones, the number rose to 7,485.

STATE LAWS

States legislature and governors make the laws regarding distracted driving. Many states now have laws against texting, talking on a cell phone, and other distractions while driving. Forty-four states have some sort of distracted driving laws on the books, and 27 states have bans on hand-held cellphone use.  

The Hands Free Georgia Act was signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal on May 2, 2018 and went into effect on July 1, 2018. In relevant part it states: Drivers cannot have a phone in their hand or touching any part of their body while talking on their phone while driving. Even with hands-free technology, drivers cannot write, read or send text messages, e-mails, social media content and other internet data while on the road. (Voice to text is allowed) The fine for a first conviction is $50.00 and 1 point assessed against the driver’s license. The fine is $100.00 and 2 points for a second conviction and $150.00 and 3 points for three or more conviction. The fines for a 2nd or 3rd offense only apply when date of a 2nd or 3rd conviction takes place within 24 months of the date of the first conviction. First time offenders can have the charge dropped by showing the court they have obtained a device that allows them to talk on a phone with hands-free technology or devices. 

For more information on the law and FAQ, visit http://www.headsupgeorgia.com/handsfree-law/. 

HOW TO CHANGE RISKY DRIVING

Laws alone will not change risky driving behavior; enforcement must play its role. In one state, driver behavior changed after it passed a “hands-free” law and found that it led to a 13 percent reduction in phone motion while driving in the first three months after a law took effect. But those changes tended to diminish over time, and there’s wide variation among the states both in terms of public awareness of the laws and traffic enforcement, which declined in some states during the pandemic. Without high public awareness or enforcement — which is difficult to do well because it relies on law enforcement officers witnessing the distracted driving and enforcing the laws equitably — getting good compliance can be difficult.

Other ways to encourage hands-free driving include the private sector: Financial incentives can help. Car insurance rates have skyrocketed in recent years, becoming a leading cause of inflation and contributing to the financial burdens associated with car ownership. The use of telematics-based apps by insurance companies offers drivers an opportunity to save money on their insurance rates. Research into the use of the apps suggests that drivers who regularly receive feedback on their driving habits tend to use their phones less while driving.

Another way to decrease risky driving behaviors is to emphasize to car owners that new safety features do not replace safe driving. Vehicles have gotten safer over the past decade, and unfortunately that makes some drivers think that safe driving is less important. Safe driving is still the best way to avoid accidents.

CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY

If you or someone you know has been involved in an accident, contact Dave Thomas at The Thomas Law Firm for a free evaluation of your legal rights.