Florida is Aiming to Crack Down on Distracted Driving

If there is one fact that cannot be disputed, it’s that distracted driving is a real problem. According to the National Safety Council, cell phone use leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. In addition, nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting and driving. The remaining statistics are startling. Here are just a few:

• 1 out of every 4 car accidents is caused by texting and driving
• Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk
• Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field
• According to a AAA poll, 94 percent of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway
• 21 percent of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones

The State of Florida is just one of three states in which drivers cannot be pulled over for being on their cell phone. This may be about to change. On Monday, December 17, 2018, a new bill was introduced that would ban drivers from holding or touching a cell phone while driving. The bill was introduced as a result of a 2016 distracted driving crash that killed 9-year old Logan Scherer. The Scherer family has since set up the Living for Logan Foundation, with the goal to eliminate “distracted driving through education, legislation, and changing hearts, minds, and habits of drivers everywhere.”

What Types of Activities Qualify as Distracted Driving?

As cell phone use and driving has increased, the chances of being involved in a car accident with a distracted driver have increased. However, distracted driving includes more than just talking on a cell phone or texting. Distracted driving actually involves three different categories of distractions. They are:

• Visual Distractions: This involves anything that takes your eyes off the road. When drivers take their eyes off the road, they are essentially driving blind, with no ability to see those around them, including other vehicles or pedestrians. For example, looking at your cell phone.
• Manual Distractions: These involve anything that causes you to take one or both hands off the wheel while driving. Eating or applying makeup while driving would fall into this category.
• Cognitive Distractions: This category involves anything that can take your mind and focus off of driving. For example, while people think hands-free devices are safer to use while driving, these devices can actually increase the chances of an accident as they often distract a driver’s attention for longer periods of time.

How Can I Prove My Florida Car Accident was Caused by a Distracted Driver?

When an accident is caused by a distracted driver, the accident can often be difficult to prove. Here are a few key ways to prove distracted driving caused the accident:

• Crash Report: A police crash report will note the results of the investigating officer’s investigation and will give the officer’s findings and conclusions as to the cause of the crash. A driver may admit to having been distracted at the scene. If this is admitted to the officer, it should be contained in the crash report.
• Witnesses: If someone saw the accident occur, they may have also seen the activities of the at-fault driver prior to the crash.
• Cell phone logs: Records from the at-fault driver’s cellular phone company will reveal the phone and data activity prior to and at the time of the crash.
• Video: Any nearby business may have security cameras that could have captured the crash. Some of the cameras may also show the driver of the vehicle, and anything he or she may have been doing at the time of the crash.

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