Cell Phones and Car Wrecks

For many Americans today, the idea of not talking on their cell phone while driving seems unimaginable. The development of car speaker-phones and wireless headsets in particular has made coordinating family plans and conducting major business from behind the wheel the norm. Even those motorists who still use a handset seem to have mastered a new method of driving at high speeds with one hand, or employing the classic phone-against-the-shoulder technique.

Although such behavior may be becoming more and more socially acceptable, especially with the sinister “texting-while-driving” problem beginning to overshadow oral conversation in terms of perceived danger, the threat to public safety that researches and lawmakers alike have associated with cell phone use remains. In fact, a recent study concluded that a 20-year-old talking on a cell phone slowed his or her driving reaction times to those of a person fifty years his or her senior.

The important thing to remember in light of new technologies is that even if you can find a phone number, call, and hold a conversation all without taking your eyes off the road, your attention is nevertheless divided. There is a limit to how much information a human mind can process at once, and when your conversation becomes more important than paying attention to your surroundings, you are posing a major risk to your own life and that of those around you.

Contact Us

States around the nation continue to enact statutes that affect the legality of cell phone-related driving practices. If you or someone you care about has been injured in an automobile collision and you believe a driver’s cell phone negligence was in some way responsible, you deserve to see justice done. Contact the Chicago auto accident attorneys at the law offices of Friedman & Bonebrake, P.C. today by calling 312-466-8200 to find out more.