Georgia Should Ban Cell Phone Use While Driving

On July 1 of this year the state of California provided a great example for the state of Georgia in prohibiting by law drivers in California from holding a phone and talking while driving. Under the new law, a driver is prohibited from talking on a hand held cell phone while driving. Blue tooth handless cell use is permitted. There is also an exception for emergencies under this new law, however, obviously, the law is intended to promote safety awareness by drivers who are oftentimes distracted while talking on their cell phones.
This law should be emulated by every state in the country, not to mention the state of Georgia. Our firm has seen many accidents where the drivers were on their cell phones at the time of the incident. Indeed, we currently have a case where it appears that our client will lose his foot and possibly his leg due to the inattentiveness of a driver who was on her cell phone at the time.
California has been known in the past to lead the way on innovative laws that are designed to promote public safety. Interestingly, the first state to ban handheld cell phones was the state of New York. Both Connecticut and New Jersey also have similar laws on the books. From 2001 to 2006, police in New York have issued almost 1 million citations to motorists for talking on their phones while driving. Obviously, the law is being ignored by many in the driving public. Nonetheless, laws like this will increase public awareness of the dangers and hopefully will decrease driver inattentiveness.
We hope that the Georgia Legislature will soon follow these other states in enacting laws for the protection of Georgia citizens. If not, we feel that we will continue to see serious personal injury and wrongful death cases that could have been prevented.