Cell phones have brought with them a whole new wave of dangers on the roadways as people devote their attention to their conversations rather than their driving. Five states (California, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington) have laws in place that prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while they are operating a motor vehicle, and these laws save lives. A Harvard University study indicates that cell phone use while driving causes up to 330,000 injury accidents and 2,600 fatalities per year.

Harvard researcher Joshua Cohen told CBS News that in addition to the above statistics, about 1 in 20 automobile accidents involve a driver who is talking on a cell phone. Clearly, when you are talking on a hand-held cell phone, you are not paying total attention to the road, and you are only using one hand to drive. But how about text messaging? That usually takes two hands, doesn’t it?

Texting while driving is even more dangerous than talking on a cell phone. Statistics show that 25 percent of drivers admit to sending or receiving text messages while driving, and between drivers who are 18-24, that number skyrockets to 66%. Driving while distracted in some manner or other causes almost 80% of wrecks, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ed Smith of the Delray Beach Police Department in Delray Beach, Florida, was quoted thusly in an interview on the subject: “Texting while driving is a serious public health issue. Law enforcement is concerned about how to enforce bans on text-messaging in the car.”

Many states have responded to this concern. No less than 14 states and the District of Columbia have laws in place that make texting while driving illegal. That refers to driving an automotive vehicle, by the way. But it appears as though people who operate high speed trains also have a penchant for this dangerous behavior.

WSBTV.com reports that a MARTA train engineer was recently suspended for three days, without pay, for allegedly texting while he was operating a train. This is serious business, because over the last year or so there have been at least two major train wrecks in the United States that have been attributed to cell phone texting. One head-on crash in California killed 25 people and injured 135, and a Boston area rear-end collision injured 50 individuals.

Driving can seem like a routine exercise that requires very little attention, but in fact, even a temporary loss of focus can cause an accident that can cost someone their life. If you have been involved in a wreck that was caused by a driver (or a train conductor!) who was talking on a cell phone or texting, call The Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer, Bruce Hagen, at (404) 522-7553, or simply get in touch through the website.