Top Driver Distractions

Video Transcript:

Cindy Speaker: Something that has always been a significant cause of auto accidents is driver distraction.  My guess today is South Carolina attorney, George Sink and he is going to talk with us about this topic.  So George, welcome and thanks for coming today.

George Sink: Well, thank you for having me, Cindy.

Cindy Speaker: Well, I want to pick your brain today and the first thing I want to ask you is what are the different ways that drivers get distracted?

George Sink: Well, Cindy, I think there are about three—visual, that’s taking your eyes off the road; manual, taking your hands off the wheel and cognitive, taking your mind off what you’re doing.  There’s a lot of trouble with various things from CDs to tobacco, eating and then we know about the cell phones don’t we because I was just looking at our legislative agenda for South Carolina in 2010 and it looks like there are seven bills being introduced in our state legislature to curb texting with fines from as low as $25.00 to up to DIU type of punishments—some pretty severe punishments to prevent distracted driving.

Cindy: Wow, now is that specific to South Carolina?

George Sink: Yes, but I think across the nation, everyone is recognizing these problems.  Using a cell phone while driving delays the driver’s reaction as much as blood alcohol level of 0.08% which is our DIU level in South Carolina.

Cindy Speaker: Is this something that now is on your radar that if someone is in an accident and you’re representing someone that may be was rear-ended or whatever, do you routinely check phone records?

George Sink: Oh absolutely!  Everyone can relate to being damaged, hurt or upset by a distracted driver and I think that ranks very high on a juror’s attention scale, so we pay a lot of attention to that.  Eighty percent for example of all crashes involve some kind of distraction, so it has a tremendous effect on younger drivers, which we know are higher risk drivers than middle aged drivers are the second highest risk area, so our young people who are out on those highways texting, talking and—it really is increasing dramatically the rates of collisions due to this distracting driving issue.  It’s something we’re all aware of now and we all need to take some steps to handle.

Cindy Speaker: Right, right!  And in speaking about that, let’s talk a little bit about safeguards.  How can we protect ourselves from the worst drivers, the distracted drivers and secondly, what steps should we have in our minds so that we’re not a distracted driver?

George Sink: I think you have to double your alertness and just keep your eyes open for this new type of danger that could result in damage to you, your loved ones, your family, without any fault of your own, so high alert level is probably your only defense.

Cindy Speaker: Well, George, I thank you so much for your time today.

George Sink: Well, thank you Cindy

Cindy Speaker: Until next time, this is Cindy Speaker for State Law TV.

Distracted Driving with Peter Steinberg

Video Transcript:

Cindy Speaker: We are all hearing a great deal about distracted driving and the danger of it. But what is distracted driving?  That’s our topic on this episode of Main Street Law.  My guest today is attorney Peter Steinberg of the Los Angeles law firm of Steinberg & Spencer.

Peter, how you doing today?

Peter Steinberg: I’m doing great, Cindy.  Thank you for your asking.  How are you?

Cindy Speaker: I’m pretty good.  I want to talk about this topic, distracted driving is getting in a lot of attention, but what exactly is it?

Peter Steinberg: Well, distracted driving is any driving while your mind, eyes or hands are doing something else.  It’s basically any activity that takes your eyes and concentration away from the road.  And that can be cell phones, it can be eating, it can be applying make-up, brushing your hair or even reaching down to grab a piece a paper off the sit or off the floor.  All of these things raise the risk of a crash by basically taking the driver’s attention away from the road.

Cindy Speaker: Why is distracted driving getting so much attention right now?

Peter Steinberg: Well, there is a lot of studies that are coming out now that are showing that distracted driving is a serious threat, and distracted driving raises the risk of a crash, injuries and even death.

Cindy Speaker: Let’s talk a little bit about statistics. How many accidents are caused by distracted driving?

Peter Steinberg: Well, there was a federal study that found that distractions contributed to 22% of all crashes and near crashes, and there is police data which shows that 16% of fatal crashes and 21% of injury crashes involve distractions.

Cindy Speaker: Well, that’s unbelievable.  Now, do you routinely check cell phone records in auto accident cases?  Is that part of your process?

Peter Steinberg: We do it when we need to do it and it is becoming more and more a part of our practice.

Cindy Speaker: And do you find that there are times when there were issues with cell phone driving.

Peter Steinberg: Oh absolutely, and as I said it’s becoming more and more prevalent, so we’re checking that more and more often.

Cindy Speaker: And what effect, if any, does that have on the outcome of the case?

Peter Steinberg: Well, it can greatly aid our clients’ cases when we find that the other party is talking on the cell phone.

Cindy Speaker: Well, that makes sense.  Now, why aren’t safety groups focused primarily on cell phone use?  Because there is really a lot of different areas where we find distracted driving.

Peter Steinberg Well, cell phone use is so front and center and part of cell phone use is texting, and I think texting is even far more distracting than talking and not only that, but both texting and talking on the cell phones is growing tremendously.

Cindy Speaker: Is it legal to drive while using a cell phone in the State of California?

Peter Steinberg In California, it’s legal to drive while using a cell phone provided that you’re on a hands free device.

Cindy Speaker: Okay.

Peter Steinberg: It is not legal to drive if you’re holding it up to your ear.

Cindy Speaker: All right.  Now, do you have any statistics on that nationwide, are most states go into that kind of a law?

Peter Steinberg: Absolutely, Cindy.

Cindy Speaker: Well, Peter, thank you so much for joining me today.

Peter Steinberg: Cindy, it’s been a pleasure being here.  Thank you for having me.

Cindy Speaker: This Cindy Speaker reporting from Main Street Law.