The term “accident” implies much chance and minimal responsibility. When Jennifer Smiths mother was on her way to pick up cat food her car was broadsided by another vehicle. The driver of the other car was a 20-year-old college student who ran a red light while talking on his phone. This was a distraction he immediately admitted and said was the reason for the fatal accident. “While he was remorseful he never changed his story” says Smiths now 43 year old daughter.
The official federal records don’t report her death as being attributed to distracted driving. Her death is just another line item on the annual toll taken by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration [NHTSA] – one of 37,262 that year. Three months later, Jennifer Smith quit her job as a realtor and formed Stopdistractions.org. Her intent was to make the tragic loss of her mother an anomaly. Her organization has been mostly unsuccessful because nine years later, the problem of death-by-distraction has increased!
There are three big reasons that explain this increase. One, as many of us have experienced there is a substantial increase in Smartphone use by drivers. From 2014 to 2016, the share of Americans who owned a Smart phone or something similar rose from 75 percent to 81 percent. The second is the changing way in which Americans use their phones while they drive. Today we spend less time using our phone for talking. We Text, Tweet, Facebook, and Instagram all day and these are all activities requiring more attention than holding a phone to our ear or responding to a voice. By 2015, almost 70 percent of Americans were using their phones to share photos and follow news events via social media. In just two years, that figure has jumped to 80 percent.
Finally, the increase in fatalities has been largely among bicyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians. These groups are easier to miss from the driver’s seat than a 6,000-pound SUV… Especially if you’re glancing up from your phone rather than concentrating on the road. Last year, 5,987 pedestrians were killed by cars in the U.S., almost 1,100 more than in 2014—that’s a 22 percent increase in just two years.
We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others. At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when they refuse to follow the law. We help with serious issues that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth. We have over 80 years of experience in our plaintiff’s only law firm. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com We Can Help!
