At first, it was all the craze to be able to drive around in your car while talking on the phone.  You could leave home and still chat away with friends, family, and anyone else you want to.  How could things get any better?  Well, the ante was upped when a little practice called “text messaging” merged with cellphone technology.

Or should we ask, how could things get any worse?

The era of the text message only helped to up the amount of car accidents that occurred because drivers were distracted by their cellphones.  Text messaging not only takes away the focus of a driver on the road, but it constantly requires him or her to look down for several seconds to read an incoming message.

Our firm’s automobile accident lawyers have seen time and again that distracted drivers run a higher risk of causing a crash on the road because they are not paying attention to anything but their cellphones.  To take your eyes off the road for a second can be very dangerous, so what happens when drivers’ eyes wander to their cellphone’s screen for several seconds at a time?

There is only so long that cellphone companies and wireless providers can deny that talking on a cellphone while operating a car does not lead to personal injuries or wrongful deaths, even when the driver is using a hands-free device.  With texting behind the wheel, it seemed that the hazards were pretty clear from the start.

“There’s probably little difference between making a phone call and texting.  If you have to take your eyes off the road, it can’t be a good thing,” said the head of the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA), which — along with other companies linked with the industry — are trying to promote educational campaigns against texting and driving.

AT&T has begun adding stickers to the screens of their new phones warning consumers: “don’t text and drive.”  Even the company’s vice president has stated that texting — along with any usage of a cellphone in a car — can be put on the same level as driving under the influence of alcohol.  Other companies, like Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, have also fallen in line to stop drivers from texting.

The automobile accident lawyers at our firm want to ask one quesiton, though: why do cellphone companies accept the research and findings about texting and driving, yet are hesitant to believe similar results when it comes to dialing or talking on a phone while behind the wheel?  Aren’t both putting people at risk of personal injury, some that may require extensive medical treatment to fix or even becoming physical disabilities that stay with people the rest of their lives?  It is disturbing to think that while both practices — talking on the phone and texting — are dangerous, cellphone manufacturers are only willing to accept the fact that one of them causes deadly car accidents.

For all drivers who text behind the wheel, tell your phone to “C U L8R!!!”

Call us now at 1-858-551-2090 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced automobile accident lawyer and find out how we can help you. We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case.  No fee if no recovery.