Recently distracted driving program included the budget of $330 million over six years to increase awareness and encourage stakeholders to take action. Every year thousands of people die because of vehicle accidents related to distracted driving. The problem gets even worse with the new vehicles that are coming equipped with manufacturer in-built car entertainment systems and in car social media access.
These in-built distraction technologies in the vehicles would encourage more distracted driving habits, over the years, as people would be able to surf Internet or get connected with the social media networking. We strongly believe that these information access, right in front of the driver’s eye would only encourage distracted driving, and, someone has to take responsibility, if the vehicle gets involved in an accident, while they were distracted by the manufacturer installed entertainment system and social media accessibility system.
David Strickland of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said, “We recognize that vehicle manufacturers want to build vehicles that include the tools and conveniences expected by today’s American drivers,”.
“The guidelines we’re proposing would offer real-world guidance to auto makers to help them develop electronic devices that provide features consumers want, without disrupting a driver’s attention or sacrificing safety .”
Approximately, 33,000 people die every year with injuries resulting vehicle accidents, every year. Out of this, roughly 5,500 people die due to distracted driving behaviour that may have been due to distraction that manufacturers of the vehicle put in the dash of the vehicle.
Mr. Strickland also said, “Car is not a mobile device; its a car.”
The Proposed Distraction Guidelines from the Government includes recommendations as,
1. Reduce complexity and task length required by the device
2. Limit device operation to one hand only (leaving the other hand to remain on the steering wheel to control the vehicle)
3. Limit individual off-road glances required for device operation to no more than two seconds in duration
4. Limit unnecessary visual information in the driver’s field of view
5. Limit the amount of manual inputs required for device operation
Unless your vehicle is at park, the operation of in-vehicle electronic devices should not be accessible to the driver of the vehicle. Some of these operations are:
1. Visual-manual text messaging
2. Visual-manual Internet browsing
3. Visual-manual social media browsing
4. Visual-manual navigation system destination entry by address
5. Visual-manual 10-digit phone dialling
6. Displaying to the driver more than 30 characters of text unrelated to the driving task
The statistics and data show us that distracted driving has played significant role in car accident death figure, every year. One distracted driver can affect so many other drivers, even the drivers who are driving with their full concentration, on the roads. Now, our concern here is that distracted driving is promoted/motivated by the vehicle manufactures because, they are adding/increasing more and more option in their vehicle to have applications and access to the whole world from the vehicle itself. Our point here is, if we don’t offer these option in the vehicle that distracts the driver from driving, then distracted driving can be stopped from increasing in the future. We all love technology. There is nothing wrong with this virtual world that we’ve created for ourselves. But, when you are driving, the whole concentration should be on the roads and rather not get distracted. We want vehicle drivers to be just driving and not reaching their fingers to the navigation system, or Pandora, or searching Internet or any other activity in the dashboard that distracts him/her from driving that can result in serious accident and serious injury.
If the vehicle accident and injury occurs because the driver of the vehicle was distracted due to vehicle manufacturer’s in-vehicle social media accessibility and car entertainment system, then vehicle manufactures can/may be held liable for the accident and injury. This issue is more serious than we think it is. Either, vehicle manufacturers should stop designing cars that promotes distracted driving, or, the manufacturers could be held liable for the distracted driving.
If you or anyone you know are the victim of vehicle in-dash entertainment system distraction or any in car dashboard distraction then you might want to contact us for your legal options. If you are looking for assistance on how you can handle the aftermath of distracted driving due to vehicle manufacturers default dashboard system, then please call us at 214-324-9000, or, visit us online at our official products liability law firm website at www.vehiclesafetyfirm.com
We have been holding the vehicle manufactures liable for their negligence in safety of the vehicle’s occupants due to numerous reasons, for more than two decades. This is all what we do here, at “The Tracy Firm”, handling vehicle defect cases by representing the individuals seriously injured in an accident, all over the nation. We also represent attorneys throughout the nation, who need referral for their cases that have the potential of being looked in to, from the perspective of vehicle crashworthiness lawsuit.
Contact us online, or, call us at 214-324-9000 if you or your loved ones are seriously injured in an accident. Find out if you have a vehicle crashworthiness case.
Thursday 7th March, 2013 | Source: Vehicle Safety Attorney E. Todd Tracy & Telematics.
