Texting while driving can cause car accidents, personal injury

Text messaging has become the fastest new way to keep in touch with family and friends. While sending text messages is fun, texting behind the wheel is dangerous and can cause car accidents resulting in personal injury or wrongful death. 

Ohio State Representative Diane Fessler believes that the practice is so dangerous, that she has introduced a bill that would make text messaging while driving against the law. 

Similar to the consequences of not obeying Ohio’s seatbelt law, the offense would cost a driver $250 in fines, according to Toledo Legal News. 

Our Toledo, Ohio personal injury attorneys want to remind readers that while technology can improve our lives, some of our gadgets can be distracting when we’re behind the wheel. The risk for a car accident increases by 50 percent for those who text while driving, according to a study by psychologists at the University of Utah. 

The American Automobile Association found that out of 1,000 16 and 17-year-olds polled, 46 percent of them admitted to text messaging while driving. AAA also found that some teens receive and send as many as 500 text messages in one day.  

That means a lot of distracted driver could be on the roads.

Teens aren’t the only ones to blame. Many cell phones have personal computing capabilities, such as the Blackberry or the iPhone. Checking email, sending memos, and setting calendared appointments behind the wheel can be just as distracting as text messaging. 

Toledo Legal News also reported that AAA found that a driver doubles his risk for a car accident when he takes his eyes of the road for more than two seconds, and that 80 percent of collisions involve some sort of inattention. 

It takes two hands to drive a car, and only two seconds to cause a car accident resulting in personal injury. Keep yourself and your family safe by keeping your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.