As we previously reported on our Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Throughout the entire month, the National Safety Council (NSC) and FocusDriven are teaming up to urge drivers to curb distracted driving by putting away their cell phones and other forms of distraction. The NSC estimates that, each year, roughly 30 percent of all motor vehicle accidents — — 1.6 million crashes — involve a distracted driver.
The National Safety Council will be holding webinars throughout the month to help inform the general public about the dangers of distracted driving. They will also be covering ways to decrease your risk of being involved in a distracted driving accident in Chicago or elsewhere in the U.S.Our Chicago car accident lawyers frequently deal with accidents caused by some form of driving distraction. Hand-held cell phones have been illegal for drivers to use inside the city limits of Chicago for years. And all drivers have been prohibited from text messaging since a state law went into effect last January. Still, both are common causes of car accidents.
The first webinar, The Ripple Effect of Distracted Driving Crashes, will be aimed at helping viewers to understand why these new technologies are posing such a threat to the safety of everyone our roadways. This webinar will include stories from families who have been directly affected by these dangerous driving habits. The main focus of this session is to help drivers to better understand how the mind is distracted behind the wheel and what you can do to regain control on the road.
The second of these webinars, Do You Really Know What’s Going on in Your Fleet?, will focus more on the frequency and the main causes of distracted driving accidents. This webinar will bring to light the risk for drivers and employees.
These webinars are made possible by the support of various advocates for safe driving, DriveCam Inc. and FirstGroup. Both companies are proud sponsors or National Distracted Driving Awareness Month 2011.
Distracted Driving research provides us with the following statistics:
-Distracted driving was a factor in nearly 5,500 deaths in car accidents and caused more than 448,000 motor-vehicle accident injuries in 2009.
-Drivers under the age of 20 are most likely to be involved in an accident caused by distracted driving. Nearly 20 percent of all their fatal accidents were caused by a distracted driver.
-The use of a cell phone while driving delays the reaction time of a drive to that equivalent of a drunk driver, testing with a BAC of .08 or higher.
-Roughly 20 percent of all accidents reported in 2009 involved distracted drivers.
-Of the near 5,500 deaths caused by distracted driving, almost 1,000 of them reported the use of a cell phone as the form of distraction.
-Cell phones make drivers four times more likely to be involved in an accident resulting in significant injury.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a distracted driving accident, the personal injury attorneys and wrongful death lawyers at Abels & Annes offer free and confidential appointments to discuss your rights. Call (866) 99-ABELS. There is no fee unless you win.