Distracted driving has long been a cause of worry among legislators and law enforcement officers in America. Cell phone usage has received special criticism from every corner because of the lack of responsibility on the part of drivers. Check out the first post on the history of cell phone usage laws.
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Leave a Reply Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Subscribe To Newsletter. Be the first to get latest updates and exclusive content straight to your email inbox. Stay Updated. Give it a try, you can unsubscribe anytime. Powered by Convert Plus. No products in the cart. Finally, an activity is cognitively distracting if it takes your attention away from the road. All distracting activities make it difficult for a driver to respond quickly in the case of an emergency, such as slowed traffic.
Texting while driving is especially dangerous because it involves all three types of distraction simultaneously. During the time it takes you to read and respond to a text message, the CDC reports that your vehicle will travel more than the length of a football field while your eyes, hands, and attention are focused away from the road.
This can cause you to drift into other lanes, rear-end vehicles in front of you, or run off of the road. You should not use your cell phone to do anything while you drive, including talking on the phone, sending or reading text messages, checking maps, surfing the internet, or looking at your social media pages. It is a good idea to turn your phone off and put it out of your sight while you drive.
If you need to make a phone call, you should pull off of the road so that you can do so safely. Parents should talk to their teens about the dangers of distracted driving and place firm rules on cell phone use while their teens are behind the wheel. While you can reduce your risk of causing a distracted driving accident, you may be unable to prevent other people from colliding with you while they are using their cell phones.
If you are involved in an accident that was caused by someone who was using a cell phone, you may want to talk to an attorney. Despite the laws against using cell phones while driving, many people still talk on the phone while they drive. If you were injured in an accident that was caused by a distracted driver, you may have legal rights. The penalties for talking and texting on a cell phone while driving can vary dramatically between states.
While the majority of states have laws in place that ban texting and driving, many states still allow drivers to talk on a phone behind the wheel. Georgia in July became the 16th state to enact a hands-free cell phone law, making it illegal to hold your phone while driving, in a move meant to put some teeth into its existing driver texting ban. In , Georgia banned texting and driving, but motorists were still allowed to use their hands to dial, not really needed and hard to understand.
Georgia's recent legislation comes at a time when distracted driving is a major issue out on the roads. An additional , were injured due to distracted driving. Laws regarding distracted driving vary by state. While the majority of states, 47 plus D. Most states also have different laws that pertain to young and inexperienced drivers.
Distracted driving laws can be complicated and if you receive a ticket for texting or talking behind the wheel it can impact your insurance rates. Many drivers are unaware of what exactly is legal in their own state when it comes to talking, texting and driving.
We compiled the lists below to show what the law is in each state as well as the fine you can expect if you are pulled over with a phone in your hand. A texting ticket will raise your rates, on average, by 24 percent, according to a rate analysis showing how much insurance goes up for a texting ticket by CarInsurance.
The rate hike will vary by insurer, but in the majority of cases it would be treated as a minor violation such as a low-level speeding ticket or running a red light. If you experience a sharp rate increase after a cell phone ticket, you may want to compare car insurance rates from other insurers.
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