We all lead busy lives. Some days it might feel like voice to text is your only safe option for communicating when you’re behind the wheel and are pressed for time. Voice to text seems safer, but is it just another form of distracted driving? Studies are now confirming that using this feature is actually just as dangerous as texting manually.
As any experienced car accident attorney can tell you, distracted driving causes thousands of car accidents in the United States every year. While it’s tempting to want to pick up the phone when it rings or text back while driving, these are all forms of distracted driving that can directly cause you to get into an accident. Just a few seconds of distraction is often all that is required to not notice that car drifting into your lane or accidentally run a red light. Even if you yourself do not strike anyone or any vehicle with your car, if you are distracted, you will not be paying attention and may never see the other driver or potential obstacle entering your vehicle’s path.
Unfortunately, many of these accidents cause fatalities and injuries that never go away. Distracted driving for only a few seconds could change the lives of one, two, three, four, or even eight people. The devastation and damage often happen so quickly and at high speeds that walking away without any injury at all is rare. It happens every day somewhere in the United States, and it happens not because it needs to or is unpreventable. It happens because an individual or potentially both operating a motor vehicle made a choice and practiced distracted driving.
Unfortunately, while many states have banned texting while driving, the law is still difficult to enforce. It’s up to drivers to practice safe driving and make the roads safer by committing to never drive distracted. This means abandoning voice-to-text as the ‘alternative’ to manual texting. Talk to text is not safer than manual texting, according to a study by Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The study found that response by drivers was twice as delayed when using regular text as well as voice to text features.
For individuals that are committed to distracted driving, here are some tips to stay safe.
Tips for Practicing Safe Driving
- Speak up when you are a passenger in someone else’s car and they are practicing distracted driving. Inform them of the dangers, and offer to take their phone and inform them of what they are trying to look up or help them do it (speak to Siri about how to get directions to the donut shop or reply to that text from Mom for them).
- Pull over to check your phone if you need to.
- Have passengers answer your phone if it’s necessary to pick up.
- Be an example to everyone you know by always focusing on safe driving and never driving distracted.
If you’ve already been the victim of distracted driving, talk to The Law Offices of Payas, Payas, and Payas to see if they can help you get the compensation that you rightfully deserve. Don’t let distracted driving ruin your life. Call today.
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