Personal Injury Blog

On May 20th, Maryland became the 8th state nationwide to enact a ban on driving while using a hand held cell phone. But the driver has to be observed speeding or involved in some other primary offense to be cited for cell phone use. While this could help make our roadways safer, there are studies that suggest that talking on a hands free phone is no less distracting than using a hand held phone. And if you're involved in an accident while using a cell phone, the opposing party could check your phone records to check whether you were on your cell at the time of the accident.

But cell phones are only part of the "distracted driving" problem. I commute by bus every day, and have a chance to see many of these accidents waiting to happen. I've seen a driver eating a sandwich with one hand while typing into his GPS with the other, (and I will never understand why you need a GPS in rush hour traffic.) There was one person texting in her car, glancing up occasionally to see which lane she was in. I even saw one driver brushing his teeth on Rt. 270 while his truck apparently drove itself to work...

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I do a lot of daily walking and as I work in Rockville, this means dealing with both traffic and impatient drivers. While much has been said about the danger to pedestrians who listen to I-Pods, or IM one another, I haven't seen much about the other side of the equation. More and more electric or hybrid cars as well as scooters are on the road. The nature of these vehicles is such that they produce less noise, and what little they do emit is usually lost in the urban background. And while I will be the first to admit I sometimes exhibit the common sense of a box of rocks, (listening to my MP3 player while trying to cross the street in rush hour!), even without my headphones, I have a difficult time hearing almost any vehicle behind me, especially a small one. And while I do look around when I cross a street, drivers making turns on red seem more than happy to view the Maryland statute giving the right-of-way to pedestrians as more of a suggestion than the law... Read the rest of this entry »