How Distracted Driving is Impacting Tallahassee Accident Rates

Every 44 seconds, someone in Florida causes a car accident. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) reports that one in every seven times, the collision occurred because a driver allowed themselves to be distracted and lose focus on what they were doing. The Department also reports that fatalities due to distracted driving are on the rise.

While distracted driving is a problem throughout the state, it is especially problematic in the Tallahassee area, where the unique terrain inhibits visibility and causes vehicles to react differently, and many drivers are new to the town and not familiar with local traffic rules and patterns. When these factors are combined with the congestion on the roads, even a momentary distraction can become deadly.  

Texting is Not the Only Problem

Many people in Tallahassee think that distracted driving refers to texting while driving, and they assume if they avoid that habit, they don’t have a problem with distracted driving. However, any activity that diverts a driver’s attention from the road leads to distracted driving. Talking, eating, drinking, programming GPS, switching music or adjusting the air conditioning are all common actions that increase a driver’s likelihood of triggering an accident.

Visual distractions may be the most dangerous, but activities that take your hands away from the wheel also pose a problem because they impact your ability to react to a change in conditions. Distractions can even be purely mental, such as thinking about an upcoming presentation instead of how many brake lights have suddenly appeared on the vehicles ahead in traffic.

Distracted driving is considered to be as dangerous as driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs. Yet drivers who are very conscientious about taking a rideshare to avoid impaired driving allow themselves to engage in distracted driving on a regular basis because they have become comfortable with it.

Why Distracted Driving is So Dangerous

Any time someone puts a vehicle into gear and pulls onto the road, they present a danger to others, and they need to be constantly vigilant to avoid the dangers posed by all drivers and objects all around them. Often, without realizing it, drivers take action to avoid collisions all the time. 

To avoid a crash, a driver must first notice a potential hazard, then react to the problem, and finally allow the vehicle time to stop or evade the problem. These three actions require time, particularly when driving at high speed.

Data from the FLHSMV shows that when a car is traveling 30 mph, by the time a driver perceives a problem, the car has traveled 33 feet. By the time they can react, the vehicle has moved another 33 feet. And then it takes another 57 feet to bring the vehicle to a stop. For vehicles moving at 55 mph, in the time it takes the driver to recognize the problem, react, and come to a stop, the car has traveled over 300 feet—more than the length of a football field.

These figures represent the time needed to avoid an accident when a driver is focused on the road. When a driver is distracted, they take longer to perceive the problem and often longer to react as well. Each second of distraction causes their vehicle to travel much further and makes it much harder to avoid a collision.

Statistics on Distracted Driving

Distracted driving has become such a serious problem that the FLHSMV now maintains separate records and reports for crashes caused by distracted drivers. For 2023, the most recent full year for which data is available, distracted driving was listed as the cause of 536 crashes in Leon County, with 19 serious injuries and three fatalities. Over 37% of those distracted drivers involved were under the age of 24, showing that this problem is particularly dangerous for younger drivers. 

In Gadsden County, the overall number of distracted driving collisions was much lower at 123, but four of those were fatal. Crash statistics for the lesser-populated Jefferson and Wakulla Counties revealed lower total numbers of distracted driving collisions at 42 and 58, respectively, but the percentage of those accidents that resulted in serious injuries was very disturbing. Over 14% of the distracted driving accidents in these counties resulted in death or serious injuries, such as those that lead to permanent incapacity.

Numbers in the database show that in the counties in the Tallahassee metropolitan area, distracted driving collisions have decreased in recent years, which is an encouraging trend. However, unlike weather and other factors that cause car accidents, distracted driving is a cause that is 100% preventable, so even one accident caused by a distracted driver is one too many. Moreover, while the overall number of accidents caused by distracted driving is down in our area, the number of serious injuries resulting from distracted driving collisions has been increasing. We are seeing slightly fewer crashes, but those crashes are causing more human suffering.

Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

Police officers who report on collisions have observed that the statistics on distracted driving do not reflect the full impact of the problem. Officers are not allowed to record a distraction, such as texting while driving, unless they have proof that it occurred. In many instances, a driver would have to admit that their attention was taken away from the road and very few are willing to do this for obvious reasons. Therefore, it is quite likely that instances where distracted driving was the true cause of an accident are much greater than reported in official statistics.

Work with an Attorney Who Knows How to Demonstrate Distracted Driving and Other Reasons for Liability

Even when you suffer catastrophic injuries in a car accident, you still need to take diligent action to uncover and present evidence of liability before you can recover compensation for your medical bills, pain, suffering, and other losses. When you work with the right attorney, your legal team can handle these critical tasks for you so that you can focus on healing and rebuilding your life.

At Searcy Denney in Tallahassee, we know how to prove that a driver’s actions were the primary cause of an accident and how to convince the insurance company and the courts why accident victims are entitled to full award of damages for their losses. If you’ve been in an accident caused by distracted driving or any other causes, you may be entitled to compensation even if your own actions were partially to blame. We invite you to contact us for a free case evaluation to learn more about the ways we can help.