hands free driving

Published on: November 1, 2024

GHSA Launches New Initiative to Prevent Distracted Driving

The Governors Highway Safety Association is collaborating with a major insurer to make it more accessible for Americans to prevent distracted driving auto accidents. A new website is part of this effort to help reduce the incidence of distracted driving on our streets.

The Governors Highway Safety Association recently announced a collaboration with State Farm Insurance. The initiative includes a website called GenerationDistractionfree.org, and the aim of the initiative is to empower parents and guardians to raise a new generation of motorists who will be less addicted to technology and distractions at the wheel.

Parents have a huge role to play in molding their children’s driving skills. Distracted driving is a major killer on American roads, and contributes to more than half of all car accidents recorded in Georgia every year. These are alarming statistics, and it is clear that government- led initiatives and legislation have limited impact in reducing the incidence of distracted driving. This is why the Governors Highway Safety Association Highway is bringing the topic of distracted driving into American homes.

Published on: August 23, 2019

Do Hand-Free Laws Stop Distracted Driving? Not Necessarily.

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

It has been over a year since Georgia’s Hands-Free Law went into effect on July 1, 2018. Since then, a few other states have joined Georgia in implementing bans on hand-held devices while driving. It may be surprising to know, however, that while almost all states in the U.S. have no-texting-and-driving laws, only about one-third of the states in the U.S. have a complete cell phone ban while operating a motor vehicle. But do these hands-free laws stop distracted driving, and more importantly, reduce the risk of deadly car accidents? Not necessarily.

Distracted driving is the number one cause of fatal traffic accidents nationwide. A driver can be distracted due to a number of causes besides just using a cell phone. Any activity that takes a driver’s attention away from the road, even for a second, counts as distracted driving. This can include eating or drinking in the car, putting on makeup and even changing the radio station. Statistics on hands-free laws have shown that even though the number of drivers using cell phones may be down, the number of car accidents is not. However, cell phone use while driving has been known to cause the most deadly results of the distracted driving car accidents.

Even with hands-free laws around the country, statistics show that man drivers are still using their phones while driving. It is still pretty common to see drivers using their phones while stopped at red lights at intersections or stuck in traffic. And a fair number of drivers actively use their cell phones while actually driving on the roads. Drivers who engage in active cell phone use while driving are usually the ones that engage in other high risk behaviors while driving as well.

Published on: April 24, 2013

High-Risk of Car Accidents with Hands-Free Communication Too

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

For some time now, supporters of hands-free texting and voice-activated texting technologies have insisted that these technologies help reduce the risk of accidents because they do not require the use of hands and fingers to type text messages.However, a new study debunks that fact.The study shows that persons who use hands-free tools are just as much at risk of being involved in a car accident as persons who manually type text messages.

The research was conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University recently.According to researchers, it does not matter whether you use a hands-free texting technology or voice-activated system to dictate text messages, or manually type a text the old-fashioned way using your fingers.The risk of distraction is just as strong in the former method as in the latter one.

It’s estimated that Americans exchange as many as 6.1 billion text messages every day.Our Atlanta car accident lawyers also believe that many millions of those texts are exchanged by people while driving.With those kinds of staggering numbers, it is very important that motorists not be lulled into the false assumption that they’re protected from accidents if they’re using a voice-activated texting system.That may not be true at all.

Published on: February 4, 2010

Study Shows No Link Between Cell Phone Bans and Accidents

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Study Shows no Link between Cell Phone Bans and Accidents

The results of a study last week have sent auto safety advocates, personal injury lawyers in Atlanta and elsewhere, and the auto industry into a tizzy. The study released by the Highway Loss Data Institute and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicates that there has been no significant drop in accident claims after laws banning hand held cell phone use while driving were enacted.

The study analyzed accident claims in 4 states that have banned handheld cell phone use while driving, and found no significant drop in accident claims after the bans were enacted. The study has, predictably enough, caused great consternation at the US Department of Transportation, where Secretary Ray LaHood has adopted distracted driving as his pet project.Just last week, the Department of Transportation banned text messaging while driving for commercial bus and truck drivers. Six states have bans on handheld cell phones in place, and several other states are considering similar legislation this y ear.