- Truck drivers who text while driving are 23.2 times more likely to get into an accident or a near-accident compared to truckers paying full attention to the road.
- Truck drivers dialing a phone while driving are 5.9 times more likely to get into an accident.
- Truck drivers reaching for their cellphones while driving are 6.7 times more likely to be involved in a crash.
These statistics point to a scary reality for the majority of us who use the same highways as truck drivers. The frequency of car accidents caused by distracted driving point to a serious problem on our roads today. Thankfully, congress has passed into law a statute prohibiting truck drivers from using their mobile phones and other handheld devices while driving. The statute also proposes fines for drivers caught in contravention of the law, as well as the trucking companies who hired these individuals.
Distracted drivers cause accidents in a number of ways. Some of these include:
- Not seeing red lights in a timely manner, causing cross collisions.
- Merging without studying the flow of traffic due to distraction.
- Failing to slow for stopped traffic ahead.
The consequences of distracted driving, especially to passengers or drivers in smaller cars, include anything from whiplash to brain and spinal cord injury, paralysis, internal injuries, fractures, burns and wrongful death.
If you’ve been a victim of an accident caused by a distracted 18-wheeler driver, you need to get justice as well as compensation to help you pay your hospital bills and reimbursement of lost wages due to being out of work for extended periods of time. We’ve dealt with car-vs-truck accidents countless times over the past 20+ years. This gives us the experience and confidence which we’ll use to help win your case. Please call us at (214) 651-6100 any time of the day and we’ll set you up for a consultation as soon as possible. Thank you for choosing Rasansky | McKenzie Law.