Every day, thousands of Texas drivers allow themselves to become distracted behind the wheel. For many of these drivers, distractions come and go without causing an accident, misleading the driver into believing that distracted driving is no big deal.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, distracted driving is a bigger problem in the United States than most drivers realize. On average, nine people are killed and more than 1,060 people are injured due to distracted drivers each day.
There are three types of distraction that may cause a car accident: visual, manual, and cognitive. The most dangerous types of distracted driving involve all three types, taking a driver’s eyes, hands, and mind off the task of driving all at once. Texting while driving is a well-known example of these multi-layered distractions, but other types of distraction, like eating behind the wheel or changing the radio station, can also combine two or three kinds of distraction and make the problem worse.
In 2011, at least 3,311 people lost their lives in car crashes involving distracted driving nationwide. Another 387,000 people were injured in distracted-driving accidents in 2011 alone. Furthermore, 69 percent of drivers in a CDC survey admitted to using their cell phones while driving, with 31 percent of respondents admitting to texting or emailing while driving.
If you have suffered significant damages due to a distracted driver, please call the personal injury lawyers at Brown Trial Firm, PLLC. We will provide you with aggressive legal representation to hold the person or company responsible and to recover for the losses that the law entitles you to recover.