Texting + Driving = Dangerous… Even Deadly

The week of Thanksgiving is the busiest and most dangerous travel time of the year. We’re highlighting some new innovations, available to stop distracted driving.

With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, millions of Americans are preparing to hit the road for their holiday celebrations. College students are packing their laundry and distant relatives are mapping their routes. It’s no surprise that the week of Thanksgiving is one of the busiest travel times of the year. But sharing the road with so many people requires more than just patience. We often forget that with extra traffic comes an increased risk for accidents, especially with distracted driving on the rise.

Mike Morse Law Firm has helped hundreds of clients who are victims of distracted driving. It’s a huge problem and a crime.

Technology: The Problem

With our beeping phones, streaming music, and talking GPS, our attention is regularly divided among several technologies while driving. A recent survey from AAA revealed that 95 percent of Michiganders are concerned about their texting-while-driving habits, and 10 percent of all automotive crash fatalities are the result of some form of distracted driving.

But could the very technology that’s distracting us also be our solution?

Technology: The Solution

Despite texting-and-driving bans in most states, distracted driving and consequential fatalities continue to rise. Rather than going around the problem, engineers are fighting fire with fire and developing technologies to tear us away from those same technological habits. For example, new products like CellControl and Groove segment your car into “zones” and place only the driver’s phone into “airplane mode,” blocking all messaging, social media updates and tempting apps like Pokémon Go until the car is turned off. Best yet, if mobile providers decide to cover capital expenditure costs, these products will only cost consumers $5 to $10 per month.

The technology exists. I hope that we can get them installed in every car.

Until then, legislators have begun taking action. In some states, they’re lobbying for textalyzers. In the same spirit as a breathalyzer, a textalyzer is a road-side test that would allow officers to tap into a driver’s phone and scan for recent activity, such as sending an email, text, or any other violations. Should a driver refuse or fail the test, consequences would be similar to those who are suspected of drinking and driving.

Technology-Free Travel Tips for 2016

If you’re hitting the road for the holidays (or any time of year), please consider these AAA tips to prevent distracted driving and help avoid unnecessary accidents and even deaths.

If you or someone you know is injured in a distracted driving accident, or any kind of accident, our car accident attorneys can help. Call us at 855-Mike-Wins. You’ll pay no fees until we win your case. #CarTruckBikeMike

1. Silence your cell: Temporarily disable your phone’s capacity to place or receive calls or use texting.
2. Ask for help: Enlist the help of your passengers to handle tasks such as texting, placing a call or re-programming your GPS.
3. Concentrate on your commute: Set mobile boundaries. Ask family and friends to refrain from contacting you during your commute hours.
4. Place your phone in the glove compartment or trunk: Wait until you’re at your destination or safely pull over to check messages.
5. Download a safety app: Many mobile safety apps are free of charge and can help discourage texting while driving, such as AT&T’s DriveMode, Sprint’s Drive First, and Verizon’s Safely Go.
6. Switch your phone into “airplane mode:” Stop texts, social media notifications and emails from coming in while you drive.