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Car accidents and distracted driving in New Jersey

On Behalf of | Mar 9, 2015 | Car Accidents

With people becoming increasingly reliant on their cellphones and other electronic devices, accidents caused by distracted driving have increased. People who are distracted by such devices may unintentionally cause accidents and serious personal injury to others around them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than nine people die in the country every day due to a distracted driver. An additional average of 1,153 people are injured each day in such accidents, a statistic that underscores the severity of the problem. In 2012, 3,328 people died and 421,000 were injured in accidents caused by drivers who otherwise failed to maintain their focus on the road.

Distracted driving is caused by a diversion of several different types of attention, all of which are important to driving safety. When a driver is distracted, their visual or manual attention may be diverted while texting, as this requires averting one’s eyes or taking a hand from the wheel. When someone is focusing on typing or reading a reply, their cognitive attention can be affected as well.

Distracted driving is a form of driver negligence, and if a distracted driver causes a car accident, he or she may be held personally liable to victims injured in it. People who are seriously injured in an accident due to such negligence may want to consider filing personal injury civil lawsuits as a result. Through such a lawsuit, an injured plaintiff might recover damages in order to receive compensation he or she sustained. A personal injury attorney might help his or her client with such a claim, identifying any and all defendants and claims and filing the appropriate civil complaint.