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Auto Accident Lawyer Says “Put It Down”
Florida Auto Accident Attorney Discusses Distracted Driving
Research on distracted driving reveals some surprising facts:
- 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
- Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
- In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
- The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
- Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)
Advancing technology, like anything else, is incredibly beneficial for us. In the context of instant communications and access to friends, family, and work, however, a steep price can be extracted in human terms.
Pay attention to the road. Put “it” down. There is no reason to text while driving. There is no reason to keep that cell phone to your ear when navigating turns or traffic. Just put it down.
If you have been injured by a distracted driver — someone who just did not put that device down, whether it was a phone, mp3 player, etc. — then contact an experienced and driven car crash injury attorney here at the Harris Law Firm. We put clients first.
Car Crashes Are Financial Hurricanes
A car crash is costly in every sense: financial, physical, mental. Consider how many serious car wrecks litter Southwest Florida every week, and then think about the costs associated with them: property damage repair, rental car repairs, lost time from work, lost productivity, medical bills, hospital bills, doctor bills, therapy bills, etc.
Then think about the associated human costs inflicted on victims of distracted drivers and their families, including:
- neck injury
- back injury
- herniated disc
- paralysis
- spinal cord injury
- bone fractures
- brain injury
- burns
- internal bleeding
- scarring
- disfigurement
- closed head injury
Many of these conditions require surgery, including the following:
- spinal fusion
- pain management
- herniated disc surgery
- lumbar spine surgery
- cervical spine surgery
- thoracic spine surgery
- steroid injection
- epidural injection
- pain medication
- physical therapy
- occupational therapy
- vocational rehabilitation
Contact Experienced Car Crash Attorney If You or Your Loved One Has Been Seriously Harmed Because of a Distracted Driver, Driving While Texting, Talking on Cell Phone While Driving
If a distracted driver has harmed you or your loved one, then contact a Florida auto accident lawyer serving Southwest Florida today at the Harris Law Firm.
We proudly serve the injured throughout Southwest Florida and beyond. Locally, we help our neighbors in:
- Charlotte County: Englewood, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda
- Collier County: Everglades City, Golden Gate, Immokalee, Marco Island, Naples, Ochopee
- DeSoto County: Arcadia
- Glades County: Moore Haven, Palmdale
- Hendry County: Clewiston, Labelle
- Highlands County: Avon Park, Lake Placid, Sebring
- Lee County: Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Estero, Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Lehigh Acres, North Fort Myers
- Manatee County: Bradenton, Ellenton, Palmetto
- Sarasota County Florida: Nokomis, North Port, Osprey, Sarasota, Venice
Texting While Driving Bans Are Dangerous?
Last year in the USA, 5,474 people were killed and another 448,000 injured in crashes involving distracted driving, defined as operating a vehicle in a careless or inattentive manner, the government says.
According to a News Press article reporting on a recent study, laws banning texting while driving actually may prompt a slight increase in road crashes, research out today shows. Surprised?
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, texting while driving bans haven’t reduced crashes at all. Instead, researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute compared rates of collision insurance claims in four states before and after they enacted texting bans. Crash rates rose in three of the states after bans were enacted.
Why? Well, the Highway Loss Data Institute believes that drivers try to evade police by lowering their phones when texting, increasing the risk by taking their eyes even further from the road and for a longer time.
Accident Lawyer Helping the Seriously Injured
The streets and highways of Southwest Florida can be a dangerous. Just think of all the recent highway crashes, vehicle rollovers, and trucking accidents you’ve heard about on I-75. Think about the traffic congestion, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents, which occurred throughout Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Naples, LaBelle, and Port Charlotte.
Inattentive drivers, drunk drivers, drivers texting while driving, aggressive drivers, reckless drivers can change your life in an instant.
Car accidents are the No. 1 cause of death and injury in both the USA and Florida. If you have been seriously injured in a car accident in which another driver was at fault, then contact car accident attorney David Harris of the Harris Law Firm, P.A.
When dealing with injuries, some of which can be extremely serious, it is difficult to face dealing with insurance companies and the claims process. In fact, if you accept a settlement from an insurance company without legal assistance, you typically lose the ability to make future claims, as well as pursue any other parties who may have contributed to your injuries. A personal injury attorney from the Harris Law Firm, P.A. can help you to ensure that all possible claims are made in your case.
Failure to obey posted street signs, texting and driving, driving while intoxicated, traveling too fast for road conditions, and vehicle defects. These are just a few of the contributing circumstances that support statistics that every person in Florida will be involved in a motor vehicle accident at some point in his or her life.
Personal Attention and Service
For those car accidents that result in serious personal injury, seek the assistance of an attorney who puts clients first, providing each one with personal service and attention. Because we limit the number of clients we accept, you can rest assured that your case will stay alive and move forward until it is resolved.
Insurance Companies Are Not on Your Side
Insurance companies do not place the interests of the injury victim first and foremost. In fact, dealing with an insurance claims adjuster following a serious car accident is like being victimized for a second time. Most large insurance companies use “claims software” to decide the value of a life. Rarely are human harms and losses factored into the equation.
In many cases, the settlement offered to you by the insurance company is a “low-ball offer.” When being concerned with medical bills, loss of work and recovering your health, you may not realize that an offer is far lower than you actually could have received with the help of a skilled accident attorney.
If you later develop health problems as a result of the car accident, you lose the ability to make a claim. Do not accept any insurance company offer without consulting with an accident lawyer from the Harris Law Firm, P.A. Our attorneys have extensive experience and success in dealing with insurance companies and will fight aggressively for maximum compensation for your injury claim or the death of a loved one.
Compensation Available
When facing serious injuries from a car accident, there are many types of claims for compensation that may be able to be made including:
- medical bills
- hospital costs
- EMS costs
- rehab costs
- physical therapy costs
- lost income
- loss of earning capacity
- future wage loss
- pain and suffering
- future pain and suffering
- vehicle replacement
- transportation costs
Contact a dedicated accident lawyer at the Harris Law Firm, P.A. today.
Dangerous Roads and Dangerous Intersections
As accident attorneys, we understand that traffic crashes range from the minor annoyance and financial hassle, to serious crashes involving serious personal injury, to the worst crashes involving the tragic traffic fatalities.
We applaud the Naples Daily News recent detailed analysis of the most dangerous roads and dangerous intersections — based on traffic crash data — throughout Collier County and South Lee County.
Here are the links to the series:
- Dangerous intersections:The series
- Dangerous intersections: A map of crash rates
- Dangerous intersections: A map of crash totals
- Dangerous intersections: Where you’re most likely to crash in Collier County
- Dangerous intersections: A closer look at five of Collier County’s worst
- Dangerous intersections: Collier data
- Dangerous intersections: How we did our analysis in Collier, south Lee
Interesting part of the series is the focus on the worst intersections, based on the number of crashes per traffic volume per year. Here is what the Naples News labels as the most dangerous intersections in Collier County:
- U.S. 41 East at State Road 29
- Immokalee Road at Collier Boulevard
- Vanderbilt Beach Road at Collier Boulevard
- Vanderbilt Beach Road at Livingston Road
- Pine Ridge Road at Logan Boulevard
Sadly, most, if not all, of these auto accidents are completely preventable. People need to:
- pay attention
- wear seat belts
- stop using cellphones if not using hands free
- pay attention
- stop rushing around as though the world was ending
- pay attention
- stop texting while driving
- stop drinking and driving
- pay attention
- stop aggressive driving
- stop eating (with two hands) while driving (some people think using both hands to stuff that burger in their pie hole is okay and that the car will steer itself)
- stay vigilant
- practice defensive driving at all times
This list could go on an on . . . Hopefully, you get the point.
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