Texting and Driving Kills

Texting-and-Driving Accident in Tampa

Last month a young mother was killed in a single-car accident while driving along the Courtney Campbell Causeway. She did something that many drivers do every day. She looked down at her phone to read a text message. Thereafter, the vehicle crashed into a concrete barrier and rolled, causing the young mother to be partially ejected from the car and her two-year-old daughter to be completely ejected while strapped in her car seat. Fortunately, her daughter survived. Tampa police determined that cellphone distraction caused the fatal car crash. While this story is extremely tragic, it is one that is becoming too common.

Distracted Drivers Cause Car Crashes

Texting and driving is a deadly combination. Each day in the United States, nine people are killed in car accidents that involve distracted driving. Distracted driving is any activity that diverts a driver’s attention away from driving safely. Texting is the most alarming distraction because it requires simultaneous use of the driver’s visual, manual and cognitive attention. Five seconds is the average time that a driver’s eyes are taken off the road while sending or reading a text message. If a car is traveling at 55 mph, five seconds would be enough time to drive the length of an entire football field—blindfolded. Examples like this help to illustrate and support the research that texting and driving is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated.

There is a growing trend for instant gratification, and people are using their smartphones for constant connection and immediate communication with their friends, families, and workplaces. At any time during the day across the country, approximately 660,000 drivers are using a cell phone or some other electronic device while operating a vehicle. Forty-nine percent of adults admit to texting and driving despite knowing that the risk of becoming involved in an accident is increased by twenty-three times. These numbers are disturbing. The Capaz Law Firm urges you to drive responsibly for your own safety and for the safety of all others on the roads. No five-second phone call, text or email is worth the everlasting devastation that can result from a serious collision.

Contact an Experienced Tampa Accident Attorney

The Tampa lawyers at Capaz Law Firm handle a wide range of car accident cases, including accidents involving distracted drivers who text and drive. If you or someone you know has been injured in a car crash caused by texting and driving, contact our Tampa accident attorneys to schedule a case evaluation.