The dangers of texting and driving are well documented by recent studies. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the average text – sending or receiving – takes your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds. At 55 miles per hour, your vehicle covers 300 yards in 4.6 seconds without the driver once looking at the obstacles ahead.
Texting while driving makes you 32 times more likely to cause an accident, according to the University of Virginia. The accident may claim your life, or it may cause permanent, devastating injuries like traumatic brain damage that turns walking and talking into a lifelong struggle. A crash may also take the life of another person, like a bicyclist or pedestrian.
A University of Utah study found that, while sending or receiving a text, a driver’s abilities are as impaired as if he or she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent – the legal limit in Tennessee. Impaired driving creates prime conditions for a crash that causes catastrophic injuries or death.
The numbers are sobering, but the personal costs of texting and driving to real people are astronomical. In an online documentary created by AT&T, drivers and families whose lives were changed forever by texting accidents share their stories.
Distracted driving has serious consequences. If you or someone you love has been injured by a distracted driver, the experienced Chattanooga auto accident lawyer at Massey & Associates, P.C. can help. To learn more, call us today at (423) 396-0720 for a free and confidential consultation.
Gary Massey, Jr., is a well-known courtroom advocate practicing law in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gary is a native of Tennessee who began practicing law in 1998. He graduated from Cumberland School of Law where he was ranked in the top 3% of his class and was an editor of the Cumberland Law Review.
