Without a doubt, life is much different than it was a year ago. As such, traffic on the roadways in Maryland and elsewhere has changed, as many employees are working remotely from home and students are attending school virtually from home. Despite these changes, the dangers on the roadways remain, and the occurrence of distracted driving has not decreased. In fact, recent numbers suggest that it has increased, leading to a greater chance of roadways accidents and deaths caused by distracted driving.
Distracted driving increasing
During the pandemic, cities across the nation have seen a rise in distracted driver. The culprit has been motorists taking zoom calls while they are driving. Whether they are taking a work meeting or catching up with friends or family, video chats or conferences are extremely dangerous to carry on while driver.
It was further discovered that some drivers have been watching television shows and movies on their phones while driving. Just like video calls, watching shows, sporting events and movies on a phone not only takes the driver’s eyes off of the road but places their focus on the show and off of the task of driving.
The dangers of using a phone while driving
It was determined that phone usage while driving has increased by roughly 38% since the pandemic began. This illustrates that many drivers are unable to drive from one point to another without looking at their phone. Crashes causing serious injuries and deaths are caused by distracted drivers hitting other vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. What’s more concerning is that most of these accidents were entirely preventable, as they only occurred because the driver was on their phone.
Although life is busy and there is an ever need to be connected to one’s cellphone and other forms of technology, when a driver decides to use them while operating a motor vehicle, this presents many risks and dangers. Thus, when this negligent act leads to an accident, it is important that victims understand their rights when it comes to holding a distracted driver liable through a personal injury action.