Driving While Texting Accidents in Atlanta

Is It Considered Driver Negligence if a Driver is Texting When an Accident Happens?

Yes, texting while driving is considered a form of distracted driving and is also illegal in the state of Georgia. There are three types of distracted driving, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s distracted driving website.

• Manual: taking your hands off the wheel
• Visual: taking your eyes off the road
• Cognitive: taking your mind off driving

Text messaging is considered the worst kind of distracted driving because it causes the driver to lose all three attention types: manual, visual and cognitive. As of July 2010, texting while driving was banned in Georgia for drivers of all license classification or vehicle type. Distracted drivers can easily cause traffic accidents that result in painful injuries.

Is It Unlawful to Use a Handheld Device While Driving in Georgia?

Due to thousands of distracted driving accidents that happen annually, the government of Georgia has prohibited hand-held cell phone use for all drivers in Georgia. Most drivers can use a hands-free device to use their cell phone, with the exception of those who are under 18 as well as bus drivers.

Those who are caught disobeying this rule can be slapped with a $150 fine and receive a point on their driving record. Emergency personnel and drivers who are fully parked are allowed to use both hand-held and hands-free devices while driving.

Though cell phone use has proven to be extremely dangerous, drivers continue to use them. According to a survey, Atlanta was ranked sixth for the cities that most use their phones, after 35% of drivers said they used their phone every single day while driving. Yet another survey reported that Georgia had the third-highest rate of drivers who text while driving. Many of these were of the younger demographic.

Drivers Injured in Pedestrian Related Accidents

It is also important to note that walking and texting has proven to be dangerous, because pedestrians are not as aware of their surroundings as they are traveling. Drivers who have hit pedestrians that are texting because the walkers made an unexpected move or failed to follow pedestrian laws may be liable to get compensated.

How Dangerous is Texting While Driving?

Since the drastic increase in cell phone use in past decades, many organizations have studied its effects on drivers. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that those who took their eyes off the road to text for a mere five seconds would travel the length of a football field while traveling at 55mph.

They also found that a driver who is texting is 23 times more likely to get in a car accident than one who is not. Similarly, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration found that 18% of fatalities in distracted driving accidents were related to texting.

In fact, cell phone-related deaths have continued to increase year after year. Many drivers become distracted by their cell phone conversations or by text messages they send or receive behind the wheel. The driver’s mental focus changes from the task of driving to their conversations or text messages.

This behavior is so dangerous that it has been compared to drunk driving. Researchers from the University of Utah—as well as other scientists—have said distracted driving while using a cell phone is as dangerous as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Alternatives to Using Your Cell Phone While Driving

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