This week, the Georgia State Patrol has announced that it will increase its focus on aggressive and distracted drivers of passenger and commercial vehicles. This crackdown is in response to a 60 percent increase in single vehicle accidents in Georgia over the past year. Many of these accidents are due to distracted driving. According to Harris Blackwood, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, it has been “a terrible year” for accidents in Georgia. The state is 15 percent ahead of the car accident rate from the same time last year.
As part of their “Stop the Threat” program, state troopers will be vigilantly targeting drivers who are tailgating, speeding, using their phones, or who are impaired by drugs or alcohol. It is estimated by the head of the Georgia Department of Public Safety that distracted driving is responsible for a 14 percent of all fatal accidents in 2016.
When drivers choose to split their attention between driving and another task, their risk of being involved in an accident rises dramatically. With an increasing number of vehicles crashing into trees, bridges, and rivers, the Georgia State Patrol is now multiplying its efforts to hold distracted drivers accountable for their carelessness and keep everyone on the road safer. Until the end of the year, the “Stop the Threat” campaign will place troopers in high crash corridors and rural routes throughout Georgia.
Distracted driving has become something of an epidemic across the country. Cell phone usage, including making calls, reading and writing text messages, and checking apps and other social media, is an especially problematic source of distracted driving accidents. While many vehicles now have hands-free, voice-activated systems designed to keep a driver’s hands on the wheel, recent studies have proven that these, too, present an enormous potential for distraction.
Distracted driving injures and kills thousands of people every year. Accident victims hurt by a distracted driver are encouraged to contact an Atlanta car accident attorney at Hammers Law Firm to request a free case evaluation. You may be entitled to compensation for physical, emotional, and financial losses related to your accident.
Let us help you obtain the justice you deserve – contact Hammers Law Firm today!
