Auto accidents are on the rise and lawmakers around the country are making efforts to increase driver safety by reducing distracted driving habits among drivers. and can certainly understand the call from Washington and state governments to eliminate distracted driving as much as possible. These efforts include bans on cell phone use while driving and, in certain parts of the nation, even eating.
In addition to cell phones, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other safety groups have endorsed bans on the use of hands-free devices for phone calls while driving as well.
In addition to cell phone technology, the NHTSA is also making efforts toward the banning of the moving map feature of GPS navigation devices. GPS stands for Global Positioning System and uses satellite technology to locate and direct drivers to their destination. These devices integrate a moving icon that shows drivers their exact location as they move on the roads. These devices update continuously so the driver can see where they are in relation to local streets and their destination.
The NHTSA is recommending changes to GPS devices and navigation systems that it believes will reduce the ongoing distraction of the moving icon on the map. Whether these recommendations will work is still debatable as they include a more static map system and the elimination of moving text.
As a Miami car accident lawyer I believe that distracted driving is a serious problem that needs to be addressed from all angles. Most of us only think of cell phone use as the problem and fail to realize the other life threatening distractions that we engage in on a daily basis, including eating, drinking, loud conversation, radio adjustments and others.