According to Forbes, 8-9% of fatal motor vehicle accidents in the United States involve distracted driving. 324,652 people were hurt in distracted driving collisions in the United States in 2020.
Distracted driving has serious consequences. The consequences are injury, fatalities, and economic loss.
Studies show that the consequences affect everyone. One study shows that distracted driving by age category affects teens and young adults the most, but it affects all age groups in significant numbers.
Distracted Driving Fatal Crashes, United States, 2020
| Age group | Number of fatal distracted driving crashes | Percent of total fatal distracted driving crashes |
| 15-24 | 638 | 34% |
| 35-44 | 474 | 26% |
| 45-54 | 368 | 20% |
| 65-74 | 192 | 11% |
| 75+ | 156 | 9% |
End Distracted Driving estimates that distracted driving costs Americans $129 billion per year. The figure includes economic loss and social harm.
What Are the Consequences of Distracted Driving?
Distracted drivers can:
- React slowly to dangers on the road
- Fail to adjust their driving to conditions around them
- Follow too closely to the vehicle ahead
- Weave from the lane of travel
- Strike objects or pedestrians near the road
- Speed, drive too fast for conditions
- Merge when it isn’t safe to do so
- Enter an intersection or turn without the right of way
- Overcorrect when they encounter a problem
What Constitutes Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is anything that diverts attention from the task of driving to another task. A person focuses on something else, whether physically or mentally, and they don’t devote their complete attention to driving.
Distracted driving can be:
- Physical – reaching for something or doing a manual task
- Mental – thinking about something other than driving
- Visual or auditory – taking your eyes or ears off the road
Distracted driving can make a driver perform worse in many ways. Traffic errors and other negligence can result in collisions and harm to victims.
Common Causes of Distracted Driving in South Carolina
- Using a cell phone, texting while driving
- Watching a video while driving
- Eating or drinking
- Looking at yourself in the mirror, applying makeup
- Reaching for something that you dropped in the car
- Loud music or listening to a podcast
- Looking at something outside the vehicle, like a crash or billboard
- Adjusting buttons or a display screen in the vehicle
- Daydreaming, thinking about other things
- Tending to passengers in the vehicle, including children, tending to pets
- An insect or live animal being in the vehicle
- Thinking about being late to an appointment or activity
- Road rage, being upset about someone else’s driving
- Upsetting personal issues or even positive things that the driver is thinking about
- Taking medication that causes neurological changes
- Having a stressful, emotional conversation with someone while driving
- Neurological or mental causes that divert attention
There are many ways to be a distracted driver. A person may not even realize that they are distracted.
Legal Consequences of Distracted Driving in South Carolina
Distracted driving can have legal consequences in South Carolina. Even if there is no accident, a person may receive a traffic ticket.
Traffic tickets
South Carolina has a texting while driving law. It prohibits sending or even reading text-based communication while driving. A person may also be charged with a violation of the South Carolina reckless driving law. The reckless driving law requires a showing of willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property, so the standard is quite high to prove a violation.
In addition, some South Carolina municipalities outlaw careless driving or riding.
Liability for a collision
A person who causes a crash by distracted driving may be liable to pay damages to victims. Distracted driving is a form of negligence – failing to act according to the standards of a reasonable person. A reasonable person must give sufficient attention to their driving. When any kind of distracted driving is a cause of a crash, there may be legal consequences of civil responsibility.
Negligence as a ground for distracted driving liability is a civil case. The person doesn’t go to jail unless they’re also charged criminally separately. Instead, the person responsible may owe financial compensation to victims. The amount due is based on the financial and personal losses suffered by the victim.
How Distracted Driving Increases Accident Risks
Distracted driving increases accident risks because it lowers driving performance. It is a way of trying to multitask: a person is trying to drive safely while they do something else. Unfortunately, studies have shown that people don’t multitask well.
USC reports that multitasking makes someone more likely to make mistakes, remember less information, and think differently. The term multitasking might be popular for job advertisements, but when it comes to driving, it doesn’t work.
People say multitasking allows them to get more done, but it isn’t true. Multitasking means asking different parts of the brain to function independently. This diversion makes someone more likely to make mistakes and exercise poor judgment. Plus, people lose time when they switch between tasks.
How Distracted Driving Affects Insurance Rates
Distracted driving raises car insurance rates. One study shows that people ticketed for distracted driving may pay up to $357 more for auto insurance. South Carolina drivers with a history of distracted driving can expect to pay 18% more for their car insurance policies.
Plus, distracted driving raises the overall number of crashes. In turn, that raises car insurance rates for everyone. Lowering the rate of distracted driving is in everyone’s interests. Whether you want to avoid a harmful collision, keep your driving record clear, or keep your insurance rates low, avoiding distracted driving behavior benefits us all.
Contact
Distracted driving has serious consequences. Those responsible can be harmed, and innocent people can suffer, too.
If you have been hurt by a distracted driver, we invite you to contact us. You can talk to a lawyer about your rights and your options. Distracted driving has serious consequences – but as a victim, you have important rights.
At Bobby Jones Law, we help people harmed by distracted driving. Let us evaluate your case and pursue your rights. Contact us now to talk to a lawyer and get legal help now.
