The fourth annual Teen Safe Driving Competition was held in April 2013, sponsored by the Allegheny County Safe Driving Competition. Students from 10 area high school districts competed for prizes. First place was $1,000; second place was $500; third place was $250; and the winner of the team prize was a school district that received a $500 donation.
The Allstate Foundation, through a grant partnership with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, provided prize money.
Student participants took a written safety knowledge exam, a driving skills exam, and were judged on perceptual assessment. Judges included state and local police, state and county officials, and other safety stakeholders.
The first and second place winners will compete in the Pennsylvania Safe Driving Competition for Youth in May. Because teenagers especially have a high rate of car accidents, safe driving competitions such as this are a great benefit to the community and teenage drivers.
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As the Valley’s roadways become the scene of more injuries and tragedies every day, the law is looking for ways to prevent them. One such initiative the state legislature has taken, with the support of many jurisdictions throughout the state, is mandating that all drivers who talk on cell phones do so using a hands-free device, such as a headset. A Henderson car accident attorney can tell you that nearly all auto accidents are preventable and generally caused by carelessness or inattention to the road.
Texting while driving has been banned in 35 states, including Nevada.
Some examples of this are texting behind the wheel and answering calls without a Bluetooth or a similar headset device. Graphic signs featuring tombstones engraved with popular textspeak expressions such as “LOL” and “OMG” juxtaposed with the time-honored “RIP” are intended to convey the dangers of texting while driving to teens, but sadly, the message doesn’t seem to be getting through. Car accidents remain the number one killer of children under the age of eighteen, and texting has often been cited as the cause of accidents.
But what about talking on a cell phone? How can that be a hazardous behavior? Many Nevada drivers are angry about the new ban on talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device, but they don’t stop to consider the bigger picture. When your phone rings, just for a second, you’re distracted from the road. If you have a hands-free device, you take the call and go on. But if you don’t:
You have to rummage through your purse, your pockets, the cup holders, and the glove compartment until you find the phone. All the while, your eyes and attention are off what’s in front of you, splitting your focus. Then you pick up the phone and answer it, which means you’re driving with one hand. While you’re talking, you’re not giving the road its due attention, which can create a very dangerous situation for you and others around you.
“Hang up and drive” is no longer just a catch phrase: It is a law, with very serious consequences attached to being found breaking it. These penalties are even stiffer if you’re in a school zone when you get caught. Some jurisdictions double or even triple the fines you may have to pay. Safe driving is everyone’s responsibility, and it’s up to all of us to do our part to keep Nevada’s roadways safe. For more information on the new law and how it affects you, contact a car accident attorney Las Vegas locals trust. But, please, wait until after you stop the car.
In an effort to curb the rising number of accidents caused by distracted drivers, the State of Nevada recently enacted legislation mandating that any driver using a cell phone while driving must also employ a hands-free device. This new law recognizes what every auto accident lawyer Las Vegas residents work with has known for years: A distracted driver is an unsafe driver. Many people tend to use their vehicles as mobile offices, making their commutes to and from work unnecessarily dangerous.
The new law, enacted to coincide with the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year and featuring beefed-up enforcement as of January first, 2012, is intended to cut down on the steadily rising number of traffic fatalities, particularly those concerning pedestrians. We’ve all heard the same tragic story over and over again. A driver glances down to answer their cell phone or read a text, and didn’t see the red light or the people in the crosswalk (or, to be fair, the roadway).
Nevada officials recognize the dangers of talking or texting while driving, and this new law is intended to promote safety behind the wheel. When most people think of dangerous driving practices, they think of reckless driving such as tailgating, dodging between lanes of traffic, or drinking and driving. Very few people consider that behaviors such as talking on a cell phone or texting while driving can be just as dangerous as knocking back a few cocktails before going home.
Hands-free devices are relatively inexpensive and permit for greater freedom and attention behind the wheel. Of course, these devices have to be used with common sense. The content of a conversation can be just as distracting as looking down to read a text while behind the wheel. Drivers who engage in arguments or tangled business discussions while driving are statistically far more likely to be involved in accidents than those who don’t. When navigating Nevada’s roadways, a highly charged emotional state can be a fatal error.
If someone else’s poor driving decisions lead to you being involved in an accident, contact your Las Vegas auto accident attorney. Most accidents are caused by a combination of illegal or reckless behavior and inattention to what is happening on the road, and the new hands-free law is one we can all live with. There is no phone call or text message that is worth more than your life or that of someone else.
