Being a car accident and trucking accident lawyer, one of the things I regularly do is observe other drivers as I drive around the Atlanta and north Georgia. I can't help it, and it drives my wife crazy as I constantly comment on what other drivers are doing on the road. For years I have been watching with real concern one driver after another texting while driving, and I have written several blogs on the dangers of this practice. I was very excited when I heard Georgia law makers were planning to and then did pass a law making the practice illegal. I really thought that once the law went into effect on July 1, I would see a lot less texting on the road. Unfortunately, it appears that has not been the case.
Since the law went into effect earlier this year making texting and driving illegal and subject to a fine of $150 and one point on your license, I really hadn't noticed any difference in the number of drivers I observed texting and driving, and I was just commenting to a friend the other day about my observations. Then today, I read an article in the AJC on line that suggest that laws passed barring texting and driving may not be having any effect on the number of drivers texting and might be increasing accidents arising from texting and driving.
According to the article, one study shows that as many as 16.000 deaths in the U.S. were caused by texting and driving from 2001 until 2007. It was these types of staggering numbers that have moved numerous states (30) to enact legislation making the practice illegal. Unfortunately, some highway safety experts believe texting bans designed to protect the public could have the opposite effect. It appears there are even more deaths now that the laws have been passed.
Apparently, this is because drivers are ignoring the laws and attempting to hide their texting and becoming more distracted than before. Expert measure the success of traffic safety laws by looking at the extent the laws are making the roads safer and reducing crashes, and, by that measure, the new texting bans are not working. It looks like the main problems with the new laws is that they are difficult to enforce. Accordingly, the laws alone probably will have very little effect on peoples' behavior until the penalties become much greater. In Utah, for instance you can be charged with murder is you kill someone with your vehicle will texting.
What is more likely to change folks behavior is articles like the one I read that drive home that texting kills. Plain and simple. The experts believe as more people die on the roads from drivers distracted by texting and the more people understand the very real risks of this behavior, there will be less texting and driving. Unfortunately, this will take some time and probably hundreds, if not, thousands of lives. If you are still texting and driving, please stop and tell family and friends to do the same.
