For those of you that think your texting and driving skills are good enough that you won’t cause an accident, you are wrong. As a Seattle personal injury lawyer, I know that it is impossible to fully focus on driving while you are reading and/or sending a text message. Being distracted by anything, such as the radio or putting on makeup, can drastically increase your chances of getting into an accident and causing life changing injuries to yourself and others.
Last Thursday night, 18-year-old Randreaita Coleman killed both herself and her 10-month-old son when she lost control of her vehicle while trying to send a text message. Coleman was driving down Interstate 65 in Alabama when she crossed over the median and smashed head-on into a Peterbilt dump truck. 45-year-old Robert Paulk, the driver of the dump truck, sustained minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital but Randreaita was pronounced dead at the scene. Her son, Carter, was barely alive when officers arrived on the scene and was transported to an area hospital where doctor’s worked tirelessly to revive him, but his injuries were too severe and they were unable to bring him to life.
Distracted driving is an epidemic in the country and takes hundreds of lives every year, but hearing about and seeing so many people die doesn’t seem to be enough to get people to stop using their phones while they drive. As a Seattle car accident lawyer, I think that it is time to significantly increase the punishment for cell phone use while driving and it should be illegal everywhere, not just in certain states. Drivers need to understand that they are putting far too many lives at risk when they pull out their phone and start texting while driving.