Georgia Personal Injury Law Blog : Atlanta Georgia Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Jason R. Schultz Law Firm : Wrongful Death, Malpractice, Car Accidents : Georgia

Efforts are underway to go beyond cracking down on distracted driving from cell phone use and text messaging. The new culprit?  Digitized billboards. The New York Times is featuring a piece on the risks posed by digitized billboards.

The number of digitized billboards advertising products, broadcasting news headlines, and announcing sports scores, is growing every day. The brightly lit billboards are visible from a great distance away, and give companies the chance to grab motorists attention. They also pose an additional source of distraction.

The billboard industry insists that the distraction is minimal. Opponents say the accident risks outweigh any benefits.

A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study in 2007 noted that digitized billboards did not change driver behavior any more than regular billboards, but that study has drawn criticism once it was discovered that the billboard industry funded it. The Virginia Tech researcher has called for more studies into the crash risks from these billboards.

As an Atlanta car accident and personal injury lawyer, I believe we need those additional studies very soon. We should confirm whether the risks are the same for both digitized and traditional billboard. The number of digitized billboards is rapidly growing and possibly the number of car wrecks on Georgia’s highways.

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Earlier this year, I discussed efforts being made by Peachtree City Representative Matt Ramsey to ban cell phone use by teen motorists to stem the accident rate among members of this age group. On March 12^th, the House voted for Rep. Ramsey's bill 138-34, marking a tougher approach to teen cell phone use behind the wheel.

The bill which now goes to the Senate, threatens drivers under the age of 18 who continue to text message or talk on their cell phones with fines or even a license suspension. The only exceptions that teen motorists will be able to claim is in the event of a lifesaving call in an emergency, or a call to report a traffic or road hazard. The bill doesn't just extend to cell phones; it also includes computers and other electronic communication devices. A first offense according to the bill, will result in a fine of $100, and if motorists are found to have been using an electronic communication device during a car accident, they could face a 90-day suspension of their license. A repeat offense will result in a license suspension for six months. Those are stiff penalties, and should prove to be a deterrent to many teen drivers who can't seem to hang up.

Teen accident rates due to cell phone distractions don’t normally receive the kind of attention they deserve, although Georgia car accident lawyers have been vocal about the problem for a while now.  These motorists are inexperienced and are more likely to take road safety for granted. In recent weeks, however, the issue has received some media coverage. NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Reed Sorenson and Kasey Kahne have combined with Allstate to educate teen drivers around the country about the dangers of cell phone use behind the wheel. The two are making stops around the country, including a visit to Smyrna, Georgia, visiting high schools and making parents and students sign contracts that will regulate teen driving behavior.

Tackling the teen driver cell phone use problem will require the cooperation of parents, teachers and the larger community to educate teen motorists about the dangers they expose themselves and others to when they use their cell phone while driving.  Initiatives like those of Sorenson and Reed can help reach out to teen drivers and get them to think twice before reaching for the cell phone in the car again.

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Across the country, most states reported some dramatic declines in accident related fatalities last year, including our very own Georgia, which saw a decline of 12 percent in the accident fatality rate.

That welcome news comes to us via a survey by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) which has just released the findings of a survey of 44 states. 40 of those states, including Georgia, reported a decline in their accident death rates last year. Leading the list was Massachusetts, which had an admirable 29 percent drop in the death rate. Georgia's death rate drop was marked at 12 percent. These findings only corroborate what other auto safety agencies have been reporting for a while now. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)has also reported nationwide declines in accident rates, and the reasons being attributed to the decline are many. The most common theme however seems to be the increase in gas prices last summer, and the economic recession that quickly followed. When people are worried about job safety, they tend to take fewer unnecessary road trips, and also seem to drive slower in order to save on fuel. Slower driving leads to fewer of those devastating high speed crashes that often involve fatalities. 

In 2008, many states also instituted efficient and well executed traffic enforcement programs to crack down on drunken drivers and speeding motorists. Seatbelt use in 2008 also rose to more than 80 percent. Automakers have also made safer cars due to increased customer demand for better safety features. All this has meant that you are less likely to become a statistic if you are involved in a car wreck.

As a Peachtree City and Atlanta accident lawyer, I have been a passionate advocate of enhanced efforts to reduce the possibility of accidents and deaths. This Georgia Wrongful Death lawyer can help victims of other motorist's negligence obtain compensation for their injuries.

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If the following prospects are not tempting enough for Georgia's lawmakers to mandate seatbelt use on all pick up trucks:

1. Reduced number of injuries during car accidents.
2. Substantial drop in fatalities from collisions, and
3. More Georgia residents walking from their mangled cars unscathed instead of dead or maimed - - - 

there is another carrot that is looking juicy to our nearly-bankrupt state. It comes in the form of a $4 million grant that Georgia would be eligible for if it would only stop holding out on a complete extension of its current seat belt laws to cover all motor vehicles in the state.

Currently, children and adults in all vehicles are required to buckle up, but pickup drivers have so far been exempt from the seat belt laws. That exemption is the only thing standing between Georgia and a $4 million federal grant that the federal government has tied to stricter seatbelt laws. The money might have seemed like something we could ignore in years gone by, when there wasn’t a $2.3 billion budget deficit staring us in the face. Now more than ever, the prospect of a $4 million grant is looking more attractive than ever, and proponents of measure, including auto safety experts, insurance companies as well as this Atlanta car accident lawyer, have been joining in the chorus for stricter seatbelt laws. Lawmakers who have been pushing to include pickups have found that the budget deficit has given their proposal a strong boost.  Currently, Georgia is the only state to exempt pickup drivers from mandatory seat belt laws.

Seatbelts Can Prevent Atlanta Car Accident Injuries and Deaths

The use of seatbelts, along with air bags, are the most important safety features we can avail ourselves to and if what it takes for the state's pick up drivers to buckle up is a law that requires them to, then so be it. As an Atlanta, Peachtree City and Newnan car accident attorney, I have often seen the effects of the failure to wear a seat belt in car crashes, and the long term effects they can have on a person's life and on the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Any law that can prevent more serious and permanent injuries on the roads of Georgia, certainly gets a thumbs up from me.

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