Distracted Driving Accidents

Distracted driving is often described as this generation’s drunk driving. As the numbers of intoxicated motorists on Maryland streets have dropped, they have been replaced by an increasing number of distracted motorists, all inattentive enough to cause an accident.

According to the Maryland Department of Transportation, distracted driving contributes to 48 percent of all vehicle accidents in Maryland. Approximately 31 percent of those accidents result in injury or death.

Among all forms of distracted driving, the most dangerous are those that involve the use of electronic communication devices at the wheel. A study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute measured the levels of inattention among drivers involved in a variety of tasks. Out of these, the researchers found that drivers who were texting while driving were 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident while driving.

Maryland has enacted laws against distracted driving, but these have proven largely ineffective as they’re simply not stringent enough to prevent motorists from using a cell phone or texting while driving. The state currently has a ban on the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. While this is no longer a secondary enforcement law (meaning that a police officer must first pull a motorist over for some other offense), it appears to be rarely enforced. 

The end result is that distracted drivers constitute a dangerous presence on our roads.

While cell phones and texting while driving often feature in conversations about distracted driving, the fact is that there are other forms of distractions that can be just as dangerous to motorists. For instance, snacking or drinking a beverage while driving, as many Americans normally do, can also be very distracting behavior. A motorist who is fiddling with radio channels, or interacting with a navigation system while driving, can also be distracted enough to cause an accident. Incredibly, even reading shows up on a list of distracted driving behaviors.