Tag Archives: car accident

Driver Can’t Remember Crash While Texting and Driving

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The driver of a car that drove into a Richmond business on Tuesday says he cannot recall any of the events leading up to his accident.

Lucas Harrison, 21, of Connersville described to police that he was texting and driving and the next thing he remembers is waking up inside his smashed car with two witnesses next to him outside the vehicle.

“I blacked out, and I didn’t come to until after the accident occurred,” Harrison said Wednesday. “The police officer said I sent a text message four minutes before he got the call (about the accident). And I don’t know if it is some kind of temporary amnesia or something, but I really don’t remember what happened.”

Harrison was driving a Chevy Cavalier which drove passed the center turning lane and two lanes of oncoming traffic, and then jumped over a curb, narrowly missed a sign post of businesses, but smashed into Grandview Medical Equipment through the retail area, out the back of the building, and coming to rest in a parking lot with the back of his car underneath the back wall of the building.
Luckily no injuries occurred.

Harrison passed a sobriety test by paramedics at the scene of the accident. He said he only had a minor scratch on his left arm.  Contact Estey & Bomberger in Los Angeles for a free legal consultation if you or a loved one is ever involved in an accident involving the negligence of someone else.

“I really wish I remembered what happened, but I don’t,” said Harrison, and told police that he “must have hit his head on the roof of the car and got knocked out because he remembers nothing after hitting the curb.”

“I am happy nobody was hurt,” he said. “God was with me because I don’t remember going across the lanes of traffic and I don’t remember anything about the accident.”

Harrison hopes that everyone can learn from his mistake. A $500 traffic citation for using his cell phone while driving was issued to him. Indiana had just banned texting while driving on Friday.

“It definitely gives me a new awareness of the dangers of texting and driving,” Harrison said. “You might think nothing is going to happen, but you never know when anything is going to happen. It is always important to keep your eyes on the road.

“It is sad that I had to be the one to set the example, but I hope everyone can learn from this example and not text while they are driving. It only takes a second with your eyes off the road for something bad to happen.”

Driver on Route 141 Crash Caused from Texting While Driving

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A 19-year-old driver was texting on her cell phone driving on Route 141 Wednesday morning and lost control of her vehicle.

Initial reports state that the driver was a juvenile, however records from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office say the driver was Courtney Conrady, 19, from Stockton Springs. She was summoned on part of failing to maintain a vehicle after the accident.

Conrady was driving a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix after 10 a.m. on Wednesday and told officer deputies Gerry Lincoln and Darrin Moody that she “wasn’t paying attention” down Route 141 while she was driving.

The vehicle apparently had drifted into the next lane and Conrady had overcorrected the turn which sent her Pontiac off the road. The vehicle did not flip over and remained on all four wheels the whole time.
Conrady admitted the next day to texting on her cell phone when she looked up and saw she was drifting into the oncoming lane of traffic.

Lincoln and Moody firefighters from the Belfast Fire Department assisted at the scene near the intersection.

Lincoln said the vehicle had minor damage, but Conrady remained unhurt.

Pilot Programs Prove Effective With Texting/Talking While Driving

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NHTSA’s results prove that texting and talking on cell phones while driving have reduced by one third in Syracuse and Hartford due to their new pilot programs.

The government has begun to enforce stricter laws with the use of cell phones and driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has supported two pilot programs from April 2010 to April 2011 in Syracuse, New York and Hartford, Connecticut, which has a new campaign called “Phone in One Hand, Ticket in the Other,” similar to the successful “Click it or Ticket” or drunk driving campaigns.

The NHTSA provided $200,000 for each of two pilot programs in each state, while the state was also supported with an additional $100,000. The campaigns use law enforcement crack down, insurance companies, and state officials to provide public seminars and newer laws to help keep citizens aware of the dangers of texting and driving. The year-long program was proven to be very effective.

The results show that each state had reduced their cell phone usage while behind the wheel by at least one-third. Syracuse declined about one-third, while Hartford had a 57 percent drop in handheld cell phone usage and a 72 percent drop in texting.

Researchers looked at Hartford and Syracuse before the programs began and found that Hartford had double the amount of drivers using cell phones then Syracuse. Texting while driving fell from 2.8 to 1.9 percent in Syracuse while Hartford had a drop from 3.9 to 1.1 percent.

“These findings show that strong laws, combined with high visible police enforcement, can significantly reduce dangerous texting and cell phone use behind the wheel,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. “Based on these results, it is crystal clear that those who try to minimize this dangerous behavior are making a serious error in judgement, especially when a half a million people are injured and thousands more are killed in distracted driving accidents.”

Smartphones Tied to a Quarter of All Car Crashes

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Cell phones and smart phones are continuing to threaten American drivers each day as motorists continue to text and talk on the phone. The Governors Highway Safety Association conducted a study overlooking 350 scientific documents on the subject and came to the conclusion that drivers are distracted while driving up to half of the time on the road.

While driving and using a cell phone raises risks and dangers of causing accidents, texting and driving is proven to be even riskier than making a phone call while driving. The GHSA has estimated that 15 to 25 percent of all crashes involving fatalities are from driving distractions.

“Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know,” said GHSA executive director Barbara Harsh. “Clearly, more studies need to be done addressing both the scope of the problem and how to effectively address it.”

The GHSA would like to see every state improve all efforts to curb distracted driving, recommending that all states ban texting and driving and cell phone use from novice drivers entirely. It also says states should do a more effective job in enforcing laws already out.

Cell Phone Citations are Higher for 2011

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The Cheyenne Police Department has given out 321 citations for the use of cell phones while driving for the first half of the year in the city, meaning the department is now expecting a higher number of citations this year. Last year a total of 481 citations were cited all together.

Department spokesman Sgt. Rob Dafoe says the increase is particularly in part due to special details which have targeted the problem.

“We had a special mobilization, among others, from May to June targeting cell phone use, and we had 63 citations from that effort alone,” he said.

“Talking with some of the officers, it’s like fishing in a tank out there. There are so many people doing it – and honestly most of them have ‘2’ county license plates. They know about the law and are just choosing to ignore it.”

Laramie County license plates begin with the number “2”.

Dafoe states that this and last year’s citations consisted mostly of tickets for talking on cell phones while driving with no hands-free device, and only a small percentage is due from texting.

The city currently has a fine of $125 for talking or texting while driving, and is a primary offense which means officers have the right to pull over anyone who is suspected of cell phone usage behind the wheel.

As of last year, the state now includes a $75 fine for texting while driving which is also considered a primary offense.

Councilman Don Pierson is a former police chief of Cheyenne who voted against the bill when it passed, agreeing that texting should be considered a primary offense due to the attention it takes from drivers on the road, but says talking on the phone should be a secondary offense, meaning officers only have the right to cite someone if they’ve already been pulled over for another offense.

Pierson also add that even though the ban began two years ago, he still has yet to see a study proving the number of reduced accidents in the city limits.

“We were supposed to get that report a year after it went into effect, and I still haven’t seen that,” he said. “If I had to guess, I would say that it hasn’t had a major impact on accident rates. There are a lot of things that distract drivers, and that ordinance really only tackles one thing.”
Council President Mark Rinne says he too would like to see a study along the same lines.

“It would be interesting to see that kind of data, if there is any like it,” he said. “I still see a lot of people ignoring it while I’m driving around.”

Study Shows One-Fourth of Accidents from Texting and Driving

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The Governors Highway Safety Association last week released fresh new research which shows the results of distracted driving across the county. The study proves that talking and texting on cell phones while driving are accountable for almost 25 percent of all car accidents in the United States.

The information was collected from a study called “Distracted Driving: What Research Shows and What States Can Do” which state officials read over 350 documents published between the years 2000 and 2011.
The report not only defines what distracted driving actually is, but also includes discussions on how distractions can lead to fatal car accidents and adds new ways and methods of refining the law to combat the dangers of distracted driving.

“Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know,” GHSA Executive Director Barbara Harsha said, who watched the report develop. “Much of the research is incomplete or contradictory. Clearly, more studies need to be done addressing both the scope of the problem and how to effectively address it.”

The study concluded that one quarter of all crashes are caused from distracted driving, and found that drivers are frequently distracted about half the time on the road. It also points out that text messaging while driving is one of the easiest and dangerous ways to get into a car crash, with talking on cell phones while driving is next in line.

The authors of the study kindly suggest that state government agencies take a variety of steps, including leveraging low-cost edge and centerline rumble strips which alert motorists when they begin to move outside their driving lane, implementing distracted driving laws and programs, monitoring the usage of cell phones while driving with new laws being enacted, and evaluating other laws and programs which could benefit the citizens and government of the U.S.

Bills Seek Banning Cell Phone Usage in Cars

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Texting or talking on cell phones while operating a vehicle can possibly become illegal soon if one of two bills on Tuesday is approved by a House committee, however the use of hands-free devices would still be legal.

The House Transportation and Highways and Public Works Committee approved both bills, one of which was approved by Rep. Austin Badon dealing with any vehicles, by a 12-2 vote in New Orleans.

The original bill was meant for the use of commercial vehicles only but was changed for the use of all vehicles.

“No one has the right to put another person’s life in jeopardy,” said Badon. Drivers who use hand-held phones are “four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to harm themselves.”

Passing the bill is believed to allow the state half of the $94 million it would receive in federal funds divided amongst all the states that ban the use of cell phones while driving, making it a primary offense.

Officers have always had the right to pull over a driver and ticket them as long as something is declared as a primary offense.

“It’s a new carrot dangling out there,” Badon said.

Badon’s bill provides the first violation in exchange for $100 the second for around $150, and $50 more for the next two violations, giving the fourth an opportunity to attest to get it lowered.

Rep. Hollis Downs was approved to proceed all fines from the Transportation Trust Fund to help pay for improvements along the highway. He said that since the money is an excess, it will not be taking away any funds from any agencies.