subject: Should You Believe the Fatal Distracted Driving Statistics? [print this page] Should You Believe the Fatal Distracted Driving Statistics?
There has been a lot of buzz about distracted driving recently. A lot of big names are starting to get behind efforts to put peoples eyes back on the road and off of their text messages. New fatal car accident statistics seem to say that this is working, with less distracted drivers being the cause of fatal car accidents. However, how reliable are these numbers?Distracted driving statistics are probably accurate in their findings that 16% of drivers under 20 cause distracted driving accidents. It isn't time yet to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. More people die than they should in car accidents that didn't need to happen. Even more we need to wonder if these numbers are correct. Are we really winning the fight against unnecessary fatal car crashes?I don't think so.The transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, has made us aware of the fact that police reports don't track distracted driving as one of the factors that goes into a car accident. I think that all of this put together suggest that distracted driving might be one of the biggest contributors to fatal car accident statistics. That's because there are all sorts of different things that cause distracted driving. It's not like a DWI where you can tell by someone's blood alcohol if they were drunk or not. Figuring out if a fatal car accident was caused by distracted driving can be quite difficult.What can we do about it? Unfortunately, unless more legislation banning cell phone use in cars gets passed in each and every state, the only thing we can do is to take a personal pledge not to use distracting devices in the car when we drive. We should follow Oprah's lead and take her "No Phone Zone" pledge not to talk on the phone or text while driving. That may be the only way to stop the distracted driving problem.You may find, if you are hurt in a car accident, that the insurance company refuses to admit that a distracted driver caused your car accident. You need to make sure you read all the information you can about how to handle insurance adjusters after car accidents so you don't make a mistake that would ruin your car accident insurance claim.
