Cell phones continue to have increasingly complex technological capabilities. One of the unfortunate consequences of this advancement is distracted driving. Texting or using a smartphone application seems harmless until someone does it behind the wheel. This behavior is a rapidly growing cause of car accidents, and many are concerned that it disproportionately affects younger drivers.
Readers in New Orleans may be interested to learn that each year almost 500,000 injuries occur as a result of car accidents caused by a distracted or inattentive driver.. Texting and driving is just one form of distracted driving, a problem that kills 5,000 people across the country each year.
Now parents may have an option to prevent their teens from using their cell phones and becoming distracted while driving. There are new phone apps that can be downloaded and installed on phones that prevent any type of use, aside from calling emergency services, while a vehicle is in motion.
Teenagers constitute a large portion of the group that succumbs to the urge to text while driving. Unfortunately, they do not always consider the ramifications of causing an accident that injures, or in the worst of circumstances, kills others on Louisiana roads
An individual who is injured may be able to file a personal injury suit to recover their medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages and other expenses that are a result of a car accident caused by inattentiveness of another driver.
Individuals who suffer injuries due to someone else’s negligence should not have to pay the economic and emotional costs of an injury that wasn’t their fault. It is important for drivers to keep from texting and other distractions while driving; otherwise it is likely that they won’t be the only ones paying the price of a serious motor vehicle collision.
Source: WWL-TV News, “New app helps stop your kids from texting and driving,” Sheba Turk, July 2, 2012
