According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eight people in this country lose their lives every day in traffic accidents in which distracted driving has occurred. Distracted driving has become the catchphrase for behaviors that take your attention off the task of driving, even when those behaviors take only a few seconds. Such behaviors can significantly increase your chances for being involved in a crash.
What are the driving behaviors that fall under distracted driving? They can include:
- Texting while driving
- Talking on a cell phone or surfing the web while driving
- Reading maps or other material
- Adjusting mirrors, dials, devices, and GPS systems
- Eating and drinking
- Grooming (combing or brushing one’s hair, applying makeup, adjusting clothes)
- Dealing with children or pets
- Talking to other passengers, especially when those are heated or emotional conversations
These behaviors cause you to engage in one or more of the three types of distraction identified by experts. Those types of distraction include 1. visual distraction (looking elsewhere than the road in any direction), 2. manual distraction (removing your hands from the steering wheel), and 3. cognitive distraction (taking your mind off the job of driving).
Distracted driving is negligent driving and those who engage in it can be held liable for the physical injuries, property damage, and fatalities they cause through personal injury and wrongful death claims.
Have you been injured in an accident due to a distracted driver in or around Hamden? Contact Sette & Parnoff, PC, online or at 203-490-4155 to discuss your case in a free consultation.
MORE ABOUT DISTRACTED DRIVING
Additional statistics from the CDC for the year 2018 show that more than 2,800 individuals died and approximately another 400,000 sustained injuries in traffic accidents caused by distracted drivers. Accident victims included not only other motorists and their passengers but pedestrians, people riding bikes, or others who were not in vehicles. Those drivers most likely to be involved in car crashes caused by distracted driving via cell phones were teen drivers. It has been shown that writing and sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for a period of five seconds or more. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), if you were driving 55 miles per hour when doing so, it could be compared to driving across the length of a football field blindfolded. It has also been shown that it only takes three seconds for a car accident to take place when a driver is distracted.
INJURED IN A TRAFFIC CRASH IN OR AROUND HAMDEN?
Almost everyone has been involved in a car accident or knows someone who has. We all know how devastating such crashes can be in terms of pain, suffering, financial loss, and more. When such accidents are caused by the wrongdoing of another, that party must be held accountable. That accountability is generally done through insurance claims.
While you may think that an insurance provider may be on your side, the real truth is that they want to pay you as little as possible. They may try to settle with you quickly and for much less than what your claim may be worth. That is why you need a strong advocate in your corner as soon as possible who will fight for a fair and just settlement for all of your losses and damages. Let us put our 45+ years of experience, knowledge, and persistence to work for you in this very important legal matter while you concentrate on recovering your health as much as possible and moving forward with life.
If we don’t win your case, you don’t pay. Call Sette & Parnoff, PC, at 203-490-4155 to get started today.