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Are Oregon’s roads even more dangerous SINCE we passed the texting ban?

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Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have banned it. The Transportation Department prohibits truckers and bus drivers from doing it.

President Obama has outlawed the practice for all federal employees, and Jonathan Adkins of the Governors Highway Safety Association thinks it should be forbidden in every state.

Don't Text and DriveDespite all that, many people still text while driving. In fact, here in Oregon, we KEEP on doing it and it’s making our roads even more dangerous.

In a recent article published in The Oregonian they found that the texting bans appear to cause more crashes, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“Texting bans haven’t reduced crashes at all,” Adrian Lund, president of the institute, said in a statement. “In a perverse twist, crashes increased in 3 of the 4 states we studied after bans were enacted. It’s an indication that texting bans might even increase the risk of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws.”

Oregon’s ban on texting behind the wheel went into effect Jan. 1. Since then, police say they have seen motorists become even more erratic as they go out of their way to hide texting from view.

“It makes them even more distracted,” said Portland police Lt. Kelli Sheffer. “You can see why there would be more crashes.”

It’s too early to say whether the cell phone bans in Oregon and Washington have increased the number of crashes, the Oregon Department of Transportation said.

However, authorities say there’s no evidence that drivers have braked their old distracted-driving habits.

Click here to read more of The Oregonian article, “Portland and state police not surprised by study showing texting bans cause crashes.”

Rick Lundblade, an Oregon Car Accident Attorney, has this to say about texting while driving, “Today, the use of cell phones has become routine. However, using cell phones while driving can increase the risk of being involved in an auto accident. In fact, a Virginia Tech study concluded that you’re more than 23X as likely to be in an accident if you text while driving.

People will debate whether talking on a cell phone is really any different than talking to a passenger in a car. Yet, many states (including Oregon and California) now have laws preventing the use of cell phones unless the driver uses a “hands free” device. Texting presents a completely different issue. If you need to look at your cell phone to text, then your focus on the road ahead of you is compromised.

Texting is becoming more and more popular and in my personal experiences it appears that most people 25-years old and younger text more than talk on a phone. The age of the texter compounds the danger of doing it while driving since these younger people have less experience driving and generally worse judgement while driving.

The best advice –please DON’T TEXT while DRIVING. There is nothing that important that you cannot pull over to the side of the road or into a parking lot to send a text if you need too.”

Rick Lundblade, a partner at the Oregon Personal Injury Law Firm of Black, Chapman, Webber and Stevens, attended Willamette University School of Law and received his J.D. in 1996.

Rick currently serves on the Oregon State Bar Uniform Civil Jury Instructions Committee and is serving a term on the Board of Governors for the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar, Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, State Bar of California. All Oregon State Courts, Federal District Court for the District of Oregon, Federal Court for the Northern and Eastern Districts of California.


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