Distracted driving — an epidemic on the roads.

Posted By Nadine Diaz

Content Overview:

• Distracted driving is involved in roughly 30% of all accidents, largely driven by mobile devices.
• Distracted driving comes in three main forms: visual, manual, and cognitive.
• Florida heavily regulates mobile phone use while driving via Statute § 316.305 and § 316.306.
• Personal injury lawyers experienced in distracted driving cases can help reclaim damages after an accident.

Driving demands constant attention; and yet, despite this being common knowledge, millions of drivers engage in acts that pull that attention away from what they’re supposed to be doing. Distracted driving is the most widespread cause of accidents on modern American roads.

What Is Distracted Driving?

Distracted driving is any activity wherein a driver turns their attention away from the main task of operating their vehicle. This typically involves eating or drinking—or most notoriously, texting—while behind the wheel, but can be as mundane as speaking with passengers or looking at a nice view.

Common Distractions on the Road

Distractions on the road can broadly be categorized into three types: visual, cognitive, and manual. Individual acts can fall into one or multiple of these categories at once, and, notably, cellphone use is an example that falls under all three umbrellas.

Visual Distractions

Human eyes have approximately one to two degrees of visual angle where we get the maximum amount of detail. Fidelity and attention gets lower the further out from this cone an object is.

As a result of this, focusing on anything that is not directly in front of the vehicle inherently creates unnecessary risk. The longer it takes to turn your eyes back on the road, the worse the risk is.

Visual distractions include things such as:

• Looking down at your phone
• Yelling at other drivers
• Observing scenery
• Turning to passengers
• Taking too long to read a road sign

Manual Distractions

If you take your hands of the wheel, gear stick, or other control feature of your vehicle counts as a manual distraction. Small habits like one-handed steering or resting an arm fall under this category even if you don’t think you are technically distracted.

Cognitive Distractions

A driver is cognitively distracted when they take their mind off of the task of driving. For instance, it’s entirely possible to have your mind preoccupied with completely normal things such as your job or your relationships.

What makes this particularly insidious is that a driver doesn’t necessarily have to do anything to be distracted. Preoccupation means that even if your eyes and ears are on the task of driving, your ability to respond to what your senses are telling you is muted.

Small details like your speed or position in the lane can fall out of focus when your mind is anywhere but on the road.

Distracted Driving Accident Statistics and Trends

Distracted driving is a more prevalent cause of accidents than any other factor, involved in an estimated 30% of all crashes. The rate of distracted driving accidents used to be far lower compared to drunk driving or intentional speeding, but picked up pace with the advent of mobile devices in the early 2000s.

Today, distracted driving accounts for roughly 13% of injury crashes and 8% of fatal crashes. Among these fatal crashes, year-on-year, upwards of 80% of casualties are occupants.

For context, this is how widespread the epidemic is:

• The NHTSA reports that in 2023, 3,275 people were killed in distracted driving accidents.
• 324,819 injuries reported in crashes in that year were connected to driver distraction.
• On average, nine people a day are killed in distracted driving crashes
• At any given moment, over 300,000 drivers are estimated to be engaged in cell phone use.
• In Florida, it is estimated that a crash occurs about once per 44 seconds, with 1 in 7 of those crashes involving distraction.

Common Misconceptions About Distracted Driving

Despite how widely accepted it is that distracted driving is inherently dangerous, people still do it. This is largely in part due to common misconceptions that lead drivers to underestimate the risk.

1. I can multitask while driving: Plenty of drivers believe they can safely text, eat, or converse while driving, but each of these acts takes focus away from an already demanding task. Driving itself is a form of multitasking by nature, and any additional input slows reaction time and reduces situational awareness.
2. Short trips are safe: Many accidents tend to occur close to home or on roads people are largely familiar with, for the simple reason that “short trips are safe” is such a popular mindset. Assuming inherent safety leads to increased risk-taking behaviors that can lead to accidents.
3. Hands-free devices are safe: While technically safer than holding a phone in your hand, talking on a hands-free device still increases cognitive distraction. Conversation tends to engage a person the longer it goes on, pulling attention away from the road.
4. A quick glance is fine: The human brain is terrible at keeping time when under load. A “quick” glance can mean anything from half a second to three, and at 55 mph, a car can cover anywhere between 40 to 250 feet in that time.
5. Slow driving makes distraction okay: And yet accidents in parking lots and slow-moving traffic still occur. As with the previous points, an assumption of safety paradoxically makes a situation riskier.

Distracted Driving Laws & Enforcement

Because distracted driving often involves activities that would be considered harmless in any other circumstance, it is incredibly difficult to write legislation targeting it. It would be, for example, largely unreasonable (and unenforceable) to ban food in a vehicle because of the risk that a driver might eat behind the wheel.

Both the federal and state governments have enacted measures aimed at reducing distracted driving behaviors across the United States. While enforcement varies by jurisdiction, it generally includes prohibitions on certain handheld behaviors and enhanced penalties in high-risk areas such as school zones.

Federal Distracted Driving Regulations

The NHTSA sets guidelines and regulations for state laws to follow. The federal government does not currently set single nationwide regulations on distracted driving, and the definitions and standards depend on the state level.

That said, federal initiatives do exist to improve education on and funding for distracted driving safety campaigns. The government also sets safety standards for vehicle technologies that help mitigate the risks of distracted driving (e.g., crash avoidance systems, interface guidelines, etc.).

Florida Distracted Driving Laws

Like most states, Florida’s distracted driving laws focus mostly on mobile phones.

• Statute § 316.305 makes it illegal to type on a phone or otherwise use your hands to manipulate a phone while driving.
• § 316.306 adds to this by restricting cell phone use with your hands when in designated school crossings, school zones, and work zones.

Law enforcement officers are authorized to stop and cite drivers completely based on this conduct alone. No probable cause is needed besides this.

Legal Options After a Distracted Driving Accident

The main route to compensation after an accident involving a distracted driver is through a personal injury claim. Distracted driving is considered negligence, in that a driver was supposed to act with reasonable care toward other road users, failed to uphold that standard, and led to an injury.

It is not the only path, however.

Personal Injury Protection

In Florida—as well as in a few other states—there is also personal injury protection (PIP) to consider. This is a system that places you in charge of covering your own damages, at least initially.

Typically, you cannot pursue compensation from another driver’s policy unless the cost of your damages exceeds the coverage of your plan. PIP does offer the advantage of being faultless, which means you are entitled to a sum regardless of your own role or contribution to the accident (if any).

Pure Comparative Negligence

Assuming damages exceed PIP coverage, Florida follows a pure comparative negligence system, which means a plaintiff’s compensation is reduced by the percentage of their own fault. You are allowed compensation, no matter how large that percentage is.

This stands in contrast to the now more commonplace modified comparative negligence, which bars compensation at either 50% or 51% fault, depending on the state.

So, for example, if a distracted driver is 70% at fault, and you are 30% at fault, and your total damages stand at $100,000, then you are entitled to $70,000. On the other hand, if we reverse the roles and you are the distracted driver in this scenario, you can only recover $30,000.

Personal Injury Lawsuits

There are several scenarios where a personal injury claim may be insufficient. Notably:

• If insurance limits are too low
• If liability is disputed
• If a wrongful death occurred
• If the insurer is uncooperative

If any of these situations occur, then you may need to pursue a lawsuit.

Lawsuits are often the last resort due to the time and resources they take. As a result, most lawsuits will never make it to trial, and parties tend to reach settlements anyway in order to avoid the massive costs.

This in mind, filing a lawsuit can be a valid course of action if only to encourage uncooperative parties to settle. These are very complex interactions, however, and navigating them without legal assistance can be difficult.

Need Help After a Distracted Driving Accident? Call Darrigo & Diaz

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident caused by a distracted driver, you need experienced legal representation to fight for the compensation you deserve. Contact the personal injury attorneys at Darrigo & Diaz today for a free, no-obligation consultation.

We are here to help you navigate the legal process and hold the responsible party accountable.

Call (813) 774-3341 to schedule your free case review. Don’t wait—your right to justice is too important.