Teen Driver Texting

All this week we have been looking at some of the major issues for drivers, in recognition of Teen Driving Awareness Week. This Blog looks at the realities of distracted driving.

Distracted driving is really anything that takes your eyes off the road, your hands off the steering wheel and your mind off what you’re doing and focusing on. Distracted driving has made news as communities pass laws restricting the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Law enforcement would note that cell phones are just one more distraction to the modern driver. Let’s not forget the radio, lunch and when talking about teens, friends in the car. Worrying about the morning’s meeting with your boss also distracts you from thinking about the intersection ahead. Spilling your drink causes your eyes leave the road. Even if your eyes leave the road for only a second, it’s long enough to change your world and someone else’s forever.

As an experienced Nashville personal injury lawyer, I think they’ll eventually get what we’re trying to get across to them and realize that it’s not worth risking your life and your friends life, other family members or people on the street you don’t even know on some really minor distraction on the care that’s going to create something you’ll never forget the rest of your life.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville car crash caused by a distracted teen driver contact the experienced Nashville auto accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation. Call 615-356-2000.

Distracted Teen Driver

It is generally agreed that teen drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group. Per mile, the crash rate for 16 year-old drivers is 10 times the rate for drivers between 30 and 59. The basic reasons behind this statistic are obvious, teen drivers have no experience with the myriad issues faced by drivers with experience, furthermore, they are immature and often takes risks, most often speeding, and are easily distracted which contribute to the increased death rate.

A good example of what I’m saying is a recent case in Clarksville, Tennessee in which a teen driver failed to yield to an oncoming police car and turned right into it. One has to ask, what was this teen driver doing that caused her to take a blind eye to a well-marked police car? With teen girls, my first thought is that she was texting or using her cell phone. Other distractions for young women include, applying make-up and just not paying attention to her surroundings, known as cognitive disassociation.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer, I have seen far too many teen deaths and I strongly encourage parents to be realistic about the skills and propensities of their children. It’s a time of excitement and dread for every parent, the time when their precious little Bobby or Betty reaches the age when they can drive.

In addition to graduated drivers license laws, safety experts agree that parents play a key role in helping teens become good drivers. Parents should not rely solely on drivers education classes to teach good driving habits and should restrict night driving, restrict the numbers of passengers riding with their teen, supervise practice driving, always require use of seat belts and choose vehicles for safety, not image. Parents can also set a good example by practicing safe driving techniques themselves.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Although distracted driving is of great concern to traffic safety professionals and has received a great deal of media attention in recent years, rigorous research on this issue is extremely difficult to conduct.

Distraction can be difficult to define and, especially, to measure adequately. Studies estimate distraction is involved in 10 to 15 percent of all crashes. However, the true role of distraction in crashes may be much higher because distracted driving behaviors often leave little evidence at the crash scene for law enforcement officers to observe.

Distracted driving is believed to be more prevalent among teenagers than adults. Two particular concerns with teenagers are the distracting effects of cell phone use, especially for text messaging, and multiple teen passengers.

A new study being conducted by the Highway Safety Research Center will use video data that has already collected in an ongoing study to investigate the frequency and nature of distracted driving among newly-licensed teen drivers. The study will review and code 8,000 video clips to identify the frequency and prevalence of distracting behaviors like cell phone use, eating, grooming, loud music and interacting with passengers.

With the highly unique and rich data set available for this research, the HSRC expects to provide the first quantitative estimates of the prevalence of the many distracted/distracting driving behaviors thought to be problematic for 16- and 17- year olds. I will keep you informed as to the findings when they are available.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Nashville automobile accident caused by a distracted teen driver contact the experienced Nashville personal injury lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates and protect your rights.

Teen Distraction

Please excuse me if I have been focused on teen drivers, or more specifically, teen driving fatalities lately but this time of year seems to be the beginning of the season of death for our youngsters. I have been thinking a lot lately about teen driving. I’ve discussed here many times the sad fact that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group.

The basic reasons behind this statistic are obvious, teen drivers have no experience with the myriad issues faced by drivers with experience, furthermore, they are immature and often takes risks, most often speeding, and are easily distracted which contribute to the increased death rate.

A recent automobile log truck accident in Northern Alabama took the lives of two 17-year-old boys. For whatever reason the teen driver ignored a stop sign and was T-boned by a fully loaded log truck with the right-of-way. The teens were wearing their seat belts but the car was badly mangled by the force of the collision. Investigators indicated that they believed that the driver was distracted by something and didn’t have his eyes on the road.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer I have seen far too many teen deaths and I strongly encourage parents to be realistic about the skills and propensities of their children. It’s a time of excitement and dread for every parent, the time when their precious little Bobby or Betty reaches the age when they can drive. Excitement because their child is growing up and the parents can relinquish to job of being the chauffeur for their busy teens and dread because the know in their heart of hearts the dangers that teen drivers face as they take to the highways and byways.

In addition to laws, safety experts agree that parents play a key role in helping teens become good drivers. Parents should not rely solely on drivers education classes to teach good driving habits and should restrict night driving, restrict the numbers of passengers riding with their teen, supervise practice driving, always require use of seat belts and choose vehicles for safety, not image. Parents can also set a good example by practicing safe driving techniques themselves.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Avoid Distractions and Live

As an experienced and dedicated Nashville automobile accident attorney I try to keep my readers up-to-date on the newest information on driving safety. As I’ve mentioned before on several occasions studies show that talking on a cell phone, whether hand-held or hands-free makes a driver as impaired as if they had a blood alcohol level of .04. There is a definite trend toward banning cell phone use while driving. The use of all cell phones while driving a school bus is prohibited in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The use of all cell phones by novice drivers is restricted in 28 states and the District of Columbia.

Since most younger and teen drivers seem hard-wired to use electronic devices they are at particular risk for fatal distractions while driving. Parents must be diligent and teach their children the dangers involved in driving under the influence of a cell phone. The best way to do that is to practice what you preach.

Talking on a cell phone while driving slows down the reaction time of even the most experienced driver – making it the same as that of a 70-year-old. Can you imagine the impact it will have on your teenager? And texting while driving is a serious risk for teen drivers as well, forcing them to take their eyes and at least one hand off the steering wheel.

Driving distractions like talking on a cell phone or texting while driving are an even greater threat for teens than for others. In 2006, among drivers 15 and older involved in fatal crashes, 15- to 17-year olds had the highest percentage of distracted drivers.

Talk to your teen drivers about the risks of talking, texting, and other distractions, and set clear expectations about driving habits. The best way to do that is to practice what you preach.

If you or a loved one are injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a distracted teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyers at Phillip Miller & Associates.

Over the last several days I have been writing a lot about teen drivers and parental responsibility. Yesterday I wrote about how easily distracted teens become when they have a myriad of electronic devices at hand while they are driving. Cell phones are the number one offender.

On Wednesday this problem played itself out when a 16-year-old Franklin, Tennessee driver slammed into a police car at an intersection. The officer was on patrol and as he crossed through an intersection the teen girl, going in the opposite direction, made a left turn directly into the patrol car at the driver’s door. Both drivers received minor injuries.

The accident is being investigated by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and I can assure you that the first thing they are going to look at is the teen’s cell phone to determine whether she was using it at the time of the impact. From the facts it appears that the young woman couldn’t have been paying attention to what she was doing, I mean I doubt she hit the patrol car on purpose, and if she had been on the lookout, she should, in the exercise of due care, seen the police vehicle and avoided hitting it.

This situation again brings up the question; is a 16-year-old mature enough to be driving a motor vehicle, and the studies and incidents like this indicate that the time has come to raise the age.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver, contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Distracted Teen Driver

Among experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), it is generally agreed that teen drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group. Per mile, the crash rate for 16 year-old drivers is 10 times the rate for drivers between 30 and 59. The basic reasons behind this statistic are obvious, teen drivers have no experience with the myriad issues faced by drivers with experience, furthermore, they are immature and often takes risks, most often speeding, and are easily distracted which contribute to the increased death rate.

A recent Tennessee automobile accident involving a teen driver makes the point that lack of experience and inability to avoid distractions is a major problem on our highways. The case from Johnson City involves a 17-year-old girl who was driving a pickup truck accompanied by three dogs. She was stopped at a stop sign and without warning pulled out directly in the path of a fully loaded log truck. According to investigators she was lucky to have avoided being killed. What was she doing within the seconds leading up to her pulling out into traffic? Was she using her cell phone? Was she distracted by the three dogs with her in the truck? Whatever it was, it kept her from looking at the oncoming traffic before making a decision to pull out.

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident lawyer I have seen far too many teen deaths and I strongly encourage parents to be realistic about the skills and propensities of their children. It’s a time of excitement and dread for every parent, the time when their precious little Bobby or Betty reaches the age when they can drive. Excitement because their child is growing up and the parents can relinquish to job of being the chauffeur for their busy teens and dread because the know in their heart of hearts the dangers that teen drivers face as they take to the highways and byways.

In addition to laws, safety experts agree that parents play a key role in helping teens become good drivers. Parents should not rely solely on drivers education classes to teach good driving habits and should restrict night driving, restrict the numbers of passengers riding with their teen, supervise practice driving, always require use of seat belts and choose vehicles for safety, not image. Parents can also set a good example by practicing safe driving techniques themselves.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee automobile accident caused by a teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies.

Avoid Distractions

Although this report is not about a Tennessee Teenage driver fatality I thought it important to being this situation to your attention. An 18-year-old Alabama woman attending Freshman orientation at LSU with her mother died in an automobile accident when the car she was driving pulled into traffic from a private driveway and was hit by a pickup driven by a 22-year-old man from Baton Rouge. The young woman’s mother was injured but is expected to recover. My prayers go out to her family and friends.

What could have distracted her from looking out for traffic before she pulled out into the path of the truck? When you are pulling out from a private driveway you must yield the right of way to oncoming traffic. Under Tennessee law intersections are places where traffic merges or crosses. They include:

• Cross streets,

• Side streets,

• Private Driveways,

• Shopping center and parking lot entrances.

More crashes happen at intersections than at any other place. Intersections constitute a very small part of rural and urban street/highway systems, yet they are implicated in 31.9 percent of all motor vehicle crashes and 15.5 percent of all fatal crashes (2004 NHTSA data). Be very careful when approaching any intersection or driveway. Never assume another driver will yield the right-of-way to you. Wait until the coast is clear and always be prepared to stop.

“Traffic checks” is the process of looking frequently and carefully for vehicle traffic approaching from each direction. “Traffic checks” is especially important when merging or changing lanes AND when approaching and crossing intersections. Look first to the left to make sure cross traffic is yielding the right-of-way. Then look for traffic from the right. If stopped, look both left and right just before you start moving. Look across the intersection before you start to move to make sure the path is clear through the intersection. Above all avoid distractions, if you have to use your cell phone wait until you are finished with your call and then focus on what you are about to do.

The lesson for Tennessee teens here is perfectly clear. Keep your mind and you eyes on the road and avoid doing things that distract you from focusing on this task.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee auto accident caused by a distracted teen driver contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation.