Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog
There’s a new public service announcement (PSA) being used to help educate drivers about the risks, dangers and consequences of texting while driving. This campaign is aimed at teen drivers to help reduce the risks of distracted driving-related car accidents in Massachusetts and elsewhere, according to Consumer Reports.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council have teamed up with safe driving advocates around the country to create three PSAs as part of their “Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks.” campaign. Distracted driving-related car accidents can come with serious and fatal consequences. In the first PSA, a teen driver is reaching for a phone as she pulls up to a stop sign. Unfortunately, since she’s reaching for her phone she fails to see the stop sign, blows through it and gets into an accident.
Our Boston car personal injury attorneys understand this scene is all too familiar. Teens are seemingly connected to their cell phones, whether they’re making calls, sending texts or surfing the web. Unfortunately, this is also true while they’re driving. Teen drivers make up the group of drivers that is most likely to be involved in a distracted driving car accident. The “Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks.” PSAs are looking to educate these young drivers and ultimately influence them to halt the dangerous driving behavior.
The last two PSAs start off relatively humorous, at the beginning at least. Texting pedestrians face some of the same dangers near our roadways as well. Both drivers and pedestrians need to be fully aware of their surroundings when traveling on our roadways. These last two videos end with texting drivers getting into some sticky situations, all because of texting at the wheel. The videos are used to illustrate situations that happen on our roadways every day because of distracted drivers.
All three of the PSAs end by asking viewers, “How will you stop texting and driving?” The end of the video also provides a link to Stoptextsstopwrecks.org to get more information.
When drivers take their eyes off the road, they’re distracted for at least five seconds. If you’re traveling at 55 mph, you could travel the length of a football field without even knowing it. Texting drivers are nearly 25 times more likely to get into a car accident.
Teen drivers are already four times more likely than any other age group to be involved in a motor vehicle crash. If you factor in texting, which increases the crash rate by up to 23 times, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Distracted driving is causing more and more accidents. In 2009, roughly 20 percent of all injury accidents reported distracted driving as a contributor.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Administration, all drivers in the state of Massachusetts are prohibited from texting while driving. Unfortunately, this law doesn’t always stop young drivers. For this reason, the “Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks.” aims to educate drivers about the dangers of this habit in an attempt to get them to willingly stop the dangerous activity.
If you someone you love has been involved in a distracted driving-related car accident, contact Boston Injury Attorney Jeffrey S. Glassman for a free and confidential appointment to discuss your rights. Call 877-617-5333.
More Blog Entries:
Distracted Trucker Heading to Boston Slams into Amtrak Train Causing Fiery Accident, Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog, September 27, 2011
State Senator Plans to Reroute Traffic to Help Prevent Massachusetts Car Accidents, Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog, September 22, 2011