"texting and driving"

Published on: October 17, 2012

Spying on Texting Drivers

Text Distracted Driving.jpg The Federal government wants to know whether you’ve been texting and driving. They have authorized grants to two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts, for anti-texting enforcement programs. Each state will get $275,000.00.

This money will be used to train police officers on how to detect texters–not only from their patrol cars, but from highway overpasses and more covert locations. I’m not sure how this will work, exactly. One police officer on a bridge, watching traffic come toward him. That officer radios to another officer on the road below, and tells him which car to pull over. Maybe it’s as simple as that.

One thing is for sure–some people who flaunt Maryland’s cell phone use laws are getting crafty–many keep the phones down below window-level to avoid police detection. Of course, that makes it harder to see the road, which is more likely to cause crashes.

Published on: August 24, 2012

Proving The Defendant Was Texting While Driving

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Txting Drvng Reaper.jpg With so many accidents caused by distracted driving, it’s a fair bet that, in any given accident, the negligent driver was on a handheld phone or handling e-mail or text messages while driving. In many cases, that fact is not important: if the defendant admits liability, or if liability is clear (for example, the garden variety rear-end collision).

In other cases, though, proving that the defendant was distracted can go a long way toward showing that their version of events is likely wrong (if not an outright lie). Yesterday I deposed a representative of AT&T to find out everything I could about the phone usage of an automobile accident defendant at the time of the accident.

These types of depositions take a lot of legwork. When I get the transcript, I’ll post it on the website. If you have a case where you suspect illegal cell phone use at the time of an accident, here are some things to think about:

Published on: August 23, 2012

Texting and Driving Infographic

By Posner & Cord, LLC

Courtesy OnlineSchools.com
Texting Inforgraphic.jpg

Published on: June 20, 2012

Distracted Driving: Test Your Skills

By Posner & Cord, LLC

distracted driving accident attorney.jpg A driving simulator called One Simple Decision, made by Virtual Driver Interactive http://www.driverinteractive.com/index.php is attempting to show driver’s the short and long-term consequences of texting and driving. It starts with the driver driving, and then instructs the driver to begin texting. When the (hopefully) inevitable collision occurs, the driver goes through a first-person interrogation by police, medical personnel, and a judge in an attempt to show chronic texters the real-life consequences of distracted driving.

The allure of a simulation like this is the desire to beat it, like any videogame. I know the dangers of texting and driving, but (I suspect like most people), I think that I can do it relatively safely. So what happens when a driver beats the simulator? Is that a license to text and drive? I’d like to know the simulators statistics.

Regardless, it is clear that in a controlled situation, the driver is going to bring his or her A-game. In real life, there will be less attention to detail, and a higher likelihood of a distracted driving accident.