Textalyzer May Help New York Officials in Distracted Driving Fight

 One might say that texting and driving is this century’s drunk driving. If law enforcement officials and safety advocates in the 1980s worked to punish drunk drivers and educate the public about the dangers of drunk driving, today they are handing out tickets to distracted drivers and working to educate motorists about the consequences of distracted driving. Distracted driving, texting and driving in particular, is causing an increasing number of injuries and fatalities nationwide and safety officials are trying to come up with new and creative ways to counter the problem.

The Textalyzer Test
Enter, the Textalyzer. Lawmakers in New York are proposing to give police officers a new device, which is the digital equivalent of the Breathalyzer, a roadside test called the Textalyzer. With this device, an officer responding to a car accident could ask for the phones of motorists involved and use the Textalyzer to tap into the operating system to verify recent activity.
The technology then helps determine whether the driver had used the phone to text, email, use social media or indulge in any other activity that is banned under New York’s hands-free driving laws. In New York, drivers are prohibited from holding cell phones to their ear. Under the new law, if it passes, failure to hand over a phone to a police officer could lead to the suspension of a driver’s license, similar to consequences for refusing a Breathalyzer.
Encouraging a Behavioral Change
This proposed legislation faces hurdles to becoming the law including privacy concerns. But lawmakers are assuring the public that the Textalyzer device would not give police access to the driver’s emails or texts. It would simply give them a way to catch distracted drivers by showing recent cell phone activity.
Officials say they are hoping to change driver behavior with this new law. They are hoping that the Textalyzer will make drivers think twice before they text, and that it will have the same effect on texting drivers as the Breathalyzer did on drunk drivers. If the law were to pass, New York would become the first state to have such a law on the books.
The Problem of Texting and Driving
Texting and driving is a serious problem on our roadways. According to Pew survey, 40 percent of all American teenagers say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that text messaging creates a crash risk that is 23 times worse than driving while not distracted. Also 11 percent of drivers aged 18 to 20 who were involved in a car accident and survived, admitted that they were sending or receiving texts when they crashed.
The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that 20 percent of crashes or 1.1 million crashes in 2013 involved talking on handheld and hands-free cell phones. NSC estimates that an additional 6 percent of crashes (about 341,000 crashes) in 2013 involved text messaging. About 26 percent of car accidents that year involved drivers talking and texting on cell phones.
Compensation for Injured Victims
There’s no question that distracted driving amounts to negligent driving. If you or a loved one has been injured by a texting driver, you may be able to seek compensation for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Families of deceased victims can also seek compensation for their losses by filing a wrongful death claim.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent driver or due to someone else’s negligence, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a man who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck.
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/science/driving-texting-safety-textalyzer.html