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Personal Injury and Automobile Accidents
- Tidewater area drivers: Beware, more Toyota recalls!
- Victim's Family Files Suit Against Winery and Market for Their Role in DUI Automobile Accident
- Will VDOT approve raising the speed limit to 70mph more Virginia roads?
- Driver, cyclist killed in Fairfax crash
- Virginia Beach, Norfolk law enforcement focusing on seat belt use
Firm News
Norfolk VA car & bicycle accident leaves cyclist injured
Posted on 7/29/2010
Virginia Beach police officer, civilian taken to hospital after crash
Posted on 7/27/2010
Virginia Beach car wreck kills one and injures three others
Posted on 7/27/2010
Tidewater motorists, get ready for a new seat belt law
Posted on 6/30/2010
Windsor woman dies in tragic car wreck on Rt. 258
Posted on 6/29/2010
Pickup truck wreck injures three in Suffolk
Posted on 6/29/2010
Homeless man killed by dump truck accident at Virginia Beach
Posted on 6/29/2010
Fatal Car Crash in Norfolk on I-64 Blamed on Speed & Weather
Posted on 5/31/2010
Virginia Beach man killed in serious auto wreck on I-264
Posted on 5/28/2010
Three men thrown from car in fatal crash
Posted on 5/20/2010
Firm Library
Personal Injury and Automobile Accidents
- Virginia Crash Victims: What You Need to Know About Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
- What three mistakes could WRECK your Virginia auto accident claim?
- Virginia motorists: What does the MOVE OVER law mean for you?
- Study of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake schools asks: does more sleep for teens mean fewer car crashes?
- How a Virginia Auto Accident Attorney Can Make a BIG Difference In Your Case
One in Three Va. Drivers Texting
An alarming study has more than one-third of Virginia drivers taking their hands and eyes off the road to send text messages. According to Vlingo, a company that makes voice-recognition software, 35.6% of drivers in Virginia admit to sending text messages from the road. This percentage ranks Virginia 6th in the country in terms of percentage.
Texting is even more dangerous on the roads than talking on a cell phone, because it requires the drive to take both his hands and his eyes away from the road. According to Frank Drews of the University of Utah at Salt Lake City, people how try to multitask like this lose their ability to monitor their driving. Drews’ research has found that drivers who are texting are six times more likely to be in an accident than those who are not. Drivers who are talking on a cell phone are, similarly, four times more likely to be in an accident.
The cause of these accidents is that taking our focus off the road causes our braking time to increase by as much as 22%. Drews found that drivers who paid full attention to the road had a reaction time of .88 seconds, but those who were texting and driving had a reaction time of 1.077 seconds. This split second increase in reaction time can be the difference between stopping short and rear-ending someone.
Text messaging is most popular among young, inexperienced drivers. This contributes to the risk that teen drivers already pose by taking their attention from the road. Other studies have found that teen drivers are more likely than adults to be distracted by things like the radio and other passengers in their car.
In 2005, Virginia passed a law banning drivers 18 years and younger from taking on their cell phones while driving. It seems like its about time to institute a similar ban for texting. Maryland, which came in 4th in the country in the texting while driving survey has already considered a text message ban.
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Michael S. Weisberg, P.C.
112 College Place
Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone: (757) 622-7740
Fax: (757) 533-9223
Toll Free: (800) 690-0235
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