Missouri Injury Lawyers Blog

You may have noticed the phrase, "Don't drive in-text-icated" popping up on cars and billboards in recent months. Similar messages that you can find with a simple google search include:

- Don't tempt f8 that txt can w8
- Dnt txt n drv
- Pay attention.

These are strong messages for all drivers, especially young drivers.

Recent statistics from the Official U.S. Government website on distracted driving highlight this point. The website, a joint collaboration between the National Highway Safety and Transportation Association and the US Department of Transportation reports that for drivers under 20 involved in fatal crashes, 11% of them were reported as distracted at or near the time of the crash.

For the parents who were wondering if your teen and his or her friends were getting the message, the website located at distraction.gov does little to increase your confidence. It states that almost half of all teens in a car with another driver report that the driver used a cell phone in a dangerous manner.

While distracted driving happens (kids, other drivers, unexpected noises, etc.), limiting these distractions is important to the safety of ourselves, our passengers and other drivers. Educating the drivers in your house is an important first step in reducing the number of motor vehicle accidents caused by distracted driving.

Continue reading "In-Text-icated Driving" »

According to its website dedicated to this issue, www.distraction.gov, the Department of Transportation has instituted several laws and regulations to curb distracted driving. These include:

- Banning federal employees from text messaging while driving on the job;
- Encouraging federal contractors to adopt and enforce a similar policy; and.
- Banning (through the FMCSA) commercial truck, including hazardous materials under the PHMSA and bus drivers from texting and using hand held cell phones while driving.

The laws and regulations have been extended to the rail industry by the Federal Railroad Administration and to pilots by the FAA.

Similarly, each state and every company should adopt laws and policies that are at a minimum as strong as these policies. The statistics concerning distracted driving and accidents is pretty clear. The avoidance of the first helps avoid the later. The benefit to companies will be safety to others and its employees and reduced costs. Less accidents equal lower premiums.

Alternatively, companies that fail to implement these policies will be subject to lawsuits and work related injury claims. The failure to implement these policies could under the right circumstances even trigger the risk of punitive damages, which are not covered by insurance. See Pennington v. King, slip copy, 2009 WL 425718, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12779 at 21 (E.D. Pa. 2009, Pratter, J.).

Mike Sudekum is a personal injury lawyer. You may contact him through this blog.

According to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, in 2010, more than 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving crashes. Further while drivers under 20 represented the highest proportion in this group, the 30-39 year category represented the highest proportion of cell phone use.

As part of its safety initiatives, the NTHSA has developed advertising and marketing materials for parents and community organizations. These materials are professional and may be a valuable resource to your family.

An example of one of the ads is:

Mike Sudekum is a trial lawyer in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released its annual National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. While the report contained some positive findings related to teens' behavior related to driving, one of the most alarming findings was that:

"1 in 3 high school students had texted or e-mailed while driving a car or other vehicle during the past 30 days."

At this point, the dangers of texting and driving are well-established and well-known. Simply stated, parents should institute severe consequences if they catch a teen driver using a cell phone while driving. Of course, we all make our own parenting decisions; however, one of the best ways to prevent young drivers from making this mistake is to not do it yourself.

Continue reading "More On Texting & Driving" »

In an article in the January 3, 2012 online edition of the The St. Louis Post Dispatch, an Illinois politician is quoted as saying that something similar to a ban on all cell phone use while driving may be "inevitable." The article also notes that 9 states currently ban handheld cell phone use while driving. This statistic is from the Governor's Highway Safety Commission.

The link provides some interesting information on the regulation of cell phone use while driving. For example, while Illinois does not have current restrictions covering all use, among its current restrictions on young drivers, it does prohibit cell phone use while driving in a school zone or in a highway construction zone. In contrast, Missouri has a ban on texting and driving by young drivers.

The use of cell phones while driving is a complicated issue. Certainly, most drivers can relate to stories of distracted driving while using a cell phone and driving. Many of the current smart phones on the market can add to this distraction in that the keys are integrated into the touch screen or are so small that use of the keypad requires a driver to look away from the road to operate the phone.

Further, the restriction of cell phone use while driving is a difficult problem for police to enforce. Determining whether a driver is under a certain age or texting instead of making a call may result in unnecessary stops by law enforcement. This is a result neither drivers nor police desire. Instead, drafting laws that restrict the use of handheld cell phone in certain areas, roads or by drivers of a certain age is a good place to start.

Continue reading "No Cell Phones While Driving; "Inevitable" for Illinois Drivers?" »

A Sullivan, Missouri woman was air lifted to a St. Louis County hospital following a two car crash on the North Outer Road of Interstate 44 in Franklin County.

According to the Missouri Highway Patrol preliminary report, the driver of a small SUV was inattentive to the second vehicle resulting in serious injuries to the driver of the second vehicle.

As mentioned here before, inattention is a leading cause of car accidents in the State of Missouri and nationwide. The report does not mention the source of the inattention, but in many cases, these accidents are avoidable by reducing distractions, such as using a cell phone while driving.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has posted the preliminary report on its website. Click here for the report.

Mike Sudekum has been representing car accident victims for over ten years in all parts of Missouri and Illinois. If you have any questions, please contact him.