Personal Injury Law

Texting While Driving More Dangerous Than Drunk Driving

Who hasn't been tempted to send a quick text while sitting at a red light. You're almost through with the message when the light turns green. You know it's green because the guy behind you honked to let you in on it. Still, you just have one or two more words so you roll out slowly, finish the text, drop the phone, hit the gas harder and turn your attention back to the road.

Time sitting at a light doing nothing is seen as wasteful unproductive time. No one likes to be unproductive. But a recent test by Car and Driver, a legally drunk (.08) driver going 70 mph stopped six feet over the distance of his baseline performance. The sober man who was reading an email stopped 36 feet past his baseline and 70 feet farther while sending a text. In his worst performance he went a whopping 319 feet beyond baseline. That's almost into the next county. Not really, but it is an astounding number, especially when you stop to think about what could have been in his way along those 319 feet.

Fatalities due to texting while driving are on the increase. As our society sends more and more texts, more and more frequently it's being done while behind the wheel. And it's not just the drivers who are impacted by this but also any passengers or others who may be hit by the texting driver.

As of July 1st, 2009 it's been illegal in Tennessee to text and drive. We all know it happens every day all around us. Hopefully, you no one you care about will find yourself on the wrong end of a driver who's distracted by texting.

Full post as published by Tennessee Law Blog on October 20, 2010 (boomark / email).