Despite aggressive efforts to address the problem of distracted driving across the United States, accidents, injuries, and deaths due to distracted driving continue to increase, primarily due to the use of wireless devices, such as cellular phones and GPS units. In fact, in 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that, at any given moment, more than 660,000 drivers in the United States are using such devices while behind the wheel.
Research has indicated that a driver using a cell phone is at least as impaired – and therefore dangerous – as a driver who is legally intoxicated. While Pennsylvania and many other states have made it illegal to text while driving, the law has proven difficult to enforce, as police officers often find it difficult to discern and prove that a driver actually was texting.
A solution may be on the horizon. Drawing a parallel with drunk driving enforcement, lawmakers in New York have begun to consider deploying a “textalyzer” to aid law enforcement in effectively utilizing distracted driving laws already on the books.
According to the New York Times, this device, which would be issued to officers, would be plugged into a driver’s phone during a traffic stop and would interface with its operating system and report whether or not the phone had been recently used. Again drawing a parallel to DUI enforcement, the textalyzer law would include an implied consent component which would require drivers to submit to the textalyzer or risk independent sanctions, including license suspension.
Plaintiff’s attorneys frequently face the same issue as police officers when prosecuting a case involving distracted driving. Text message records are kept for only a limited time and wireless carriers are notoriously uncooperative in producing them. A textalyzer law would allow law enforcement to not only identify distracted drivers but also preserve a record of their phone use that plaintiff’s attorneys can rely upon when pursuing compensation for those injured by distracted driving.
Contact Mayerson Law if you have been injured in a Pottstown car accident
If you have been injured by a distracted driver, you need to act quickly. Even when the other driver was clearly at fault, getting their insurance company to pay fair compensation can be a challenge. The Pottstown auto accident lawyers of Mayerson Law now how to deal with insurance companies, getting fair compensation for our injured clients. Call us today at (610) 492-7155 or reach out to us online to have your case evaluated by a Montgomery County injury lawyer.