Oklahoma City, OK (PRWEB) April 03, 2012
The Oklahoma car accident attorneys at the law firm of Atkins & Markoff hereby alert the public of a recent announcement made by several federal agencies that named April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. This designation was made in furtherance of an ongoing effort to bring increased awareness to the dangers of distracted driving in hopes that this heightened focus on this issue will lead to fewer distracted drivers and to a downturn in car accidents caused by this mistake.
Specifically, the National Security Council, the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration have all made the effort of leading this awareness campaign. The agencies have cited statistics that state that in each of the past two calendar years, more than 3,000 people have been killed in car accidents across the United States that were caused by distracted drivers.
In addition, the National Security Council has release a fact sheet that states that nearly 25 percent of all crashes involve at least one driver who was distracted by a cell phone and that drivers talking on a cell phone while driving are four times more likely to crash than someone who is not using this type of a device, regardless of whether or not that driver was using a hands-free tool.
The issue of cell phone use and sending and reading text messages is one of the reasons that the three agencies have led the effort to provide April with this designation. In Oklahoma, there is an inattentive driver law in existence that could lead to the issuance of a citation for someone who is speaking on a cell phone or sending/receiving text messages and not paying attention to the road. In addition, those with junior driver licenses are prohibited from using hand-held devices while driving a moving vehicle.
Overall, distracted driving does appear to be prevalent in Oklahoma when it comes to causes of crashes. According to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, more than 70,000 Oklahoma auto accidents occurred during the year 2010. Of those 70,000 crashes, more than 10,500 of them were recorded as being caused by the inattention of at least one of the drivers involved. The Oklahoma car accident lawyers at Atkins & Markoff ask the driving public to take heed of the message being provided by National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and to drive with more caution and focus on the road.
About Atkins & Markoff
Atkins & Markoff, whose Web site is located at http://www.oklalawyer.com, is a law firm comprised of Oklahoma personal injury and trial lawyers who have been representing consumers and defending their legal rights for nearly 15 years. The firm handles legal matters that include Oklahoma auto accidents, class action lawsuits, child/daycare injuries, defective products, medical malpractice, general personal injury, family law, estate planning, criminal law and workers compensation among other legal matters.
