Fort Walton Beach Personal Injury Law Blog

Smartphones provide drivers in Florida with so many distractions that they are becoming a major influence on car crash rates. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon each offer a free app that can silence all incoming communications and prevent drivers from texting while the car is in motion, but these capabilities can be inadequate in stopping distracted driving. This is where two new devices come in.

Groove is a device that plugs into the car and links the user's phone to a cloud, allowing the phone provider to know when the user is driving. The phone provider then blocks all calls, texts and social media updates; these appear once the car is turned off. The device will allow for navigation and music streaming although the parents of teen drivers or employers could customize it to disable such features.

Motorists in Florida share the highways with large commercial trucks every day, but accidents appear to be on the rise. A new report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration calculated a 3 percent rise in fatal large truck crashes from 2015 to 2016. This continued a trend that started in 2009 when deadly truck accidents became more frequent. Between 2009 and 2016, these accidents increased by 28 percent. This reversed the progress made between 2005 and 2009 when fatal truck crashes dropped by 34 percent.

In 2015, the federal government recorded 4,074 fatal accidents. The number rose to 4,213 in 2016. In terms of lives lost, these wrecks killed 4,094 people in 2015 and 4,317 in 2016. The rate of injuries increased in 2016 as well with approximately 145,000 injuries attributed to 104,000 accidents. For 2015, only about 116,000 injuries were caused by truck accidents.

During the week of July 15 - 21, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance will run Safe Driver Week with the goal of reducing unsafe vehicle behavior on America's roadways. Police officers throughout Florida and the rest of the country will increase their enforcement of traffic violations such as speeding, following too closely and distracted driving. During Operation Safe Driver Week in 2017, more than 39,000 citations were given to commercial drivers.

Truck accidents cause a lot of fatalities and injuries in the United States every year. A study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that driver behavior was the critical cause behind 88 percent of large truck crashes. While not as common, some truck drivers get into accidents because they operate their vehicles while ill or fatigued.

You likely remember the warnings of your parents to look both ways before crossing the street. This early lesson in pedestrian safety has stuck with you, and you may believe yourself to be a relatively cautious person when you are on foot near traffic.

Unfortunately, the nature of traffic is changing with more factors distracting drivers, including the devices built right into the consoles of their vehicles. Looking both ways may not be enough to keep you from a devastating encounter with a motor vehicle.