A Disastrous Match: Auto Accidents and Cell Phones By emachado on April 20, 2015

If any piece of technology could be counted as both a blessing and a curse, it would have to be the cell phone. Cell phones have helped millions of drivers escape emergency situations in which they would otherwise be stranded, often saving lives in the process. However, they have also caused countless auto accidents, costing lives that otherwise would have been spared. There is no use in arguing whether the trade-off is worth it; cell phones are as essential to most people’s daily lives as cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles, themselves.

Thankfully, since January 2014, Illinois has counted itself among the states that have completely banned the use of all hand-held devices while driving. Drivers cannot use hand-held devices or text at all while driving, period. This law has helped to make our state’s roadways safer, at least insofar as our more law-abiding citizens are concerned.

Unfortunately, there are still many drivers on the road who flagrantly violate this new law, using their hand-held cell phones and texting while driving, putting the lives of innocent people at risk for no good reason. If you or a member of your family has been injured in an auto accident caused by someone illegally using a cell phone or texting while driving, or if you have tragically lost a member of your family in such an accident, the personal injury attorneys of Rubin, Machado & Rosenblum, Ltd. can help. When it comes to auto accidents and cell phones, our Chicago lawyers have the resources, skills, and tenacity to present the strongest cases possible on behalf of our clients. We will fight to obtain the full measure of compensation to which you are entitled.

The Hazards of Cell Phone Use While Driving

According to a report published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or other hand-held electronic devices while driving at any given time during daylight hours in the United States. This number makes the following statistics even more alarming:

A 2006 study conducting by David L. Strayer, Frank A. Drews, and Dennis J. Crouch of the University of Utah found that “cell-phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers.”
Between 2005 and 2008, fatalities from distracted driving increased 28 percent according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). According to the report, “By multivariate analyses, we predicted that increasing texting volumes resulted in more than 16,000 additional road fatalities from 2001 to 2007.”
A report published by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that texting doubled the risk of an auto accident. Looking up contact information, dialing a phone number, and reaching for a cell phone tripled the risk.