PA Woman Campaigns Against Texting While Driving

Even though Pennsylvania just enacted its anti-texting law, Jacy Good won’t stop spreading the word that texting and driving is a deadly combination.  The Pennsylvania woman knows firsthand the devastation a distracted driver can cause.  She is using her personal tragedy to urge Americans to put down their phones when driving.

Jacy and her parents were driving home after Jacy’s graduation ceremony at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA in May 2008, when an 18-year-old driver who was talking on his cellphone ran a red light, according to an article in the Reading Eagle.  A tractor trailer had to swerve to avoid the teen, but then slammed head-on into Good’s car.  Jacy’s parents both died instantly.  Jacy ended up in the hospital with just a 10 percent chance of surviving. Jacy did survive, and she wants to make sure no one else suffers the way she has. […]

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Pennsylvania Makes it Illegal to Text While Driving

You better think twice before texting when behind the wheel in Pennsylvania or you will be ticketed.  It is now a primary offense for texting while driving, thanks to the new anti-texting law that took effect on March 8.

The provisions of the law, according to a press release by the Pennsylvania State Police, are as follows:

• It is a primary offense to use an Interactive Wireless Communication Device (IWCD) to send, read or write a text-based message.
• Violators will be fined $50 for convictions.
• This law supersedes and preempts any local ordinances restricting the use of interactive wireless devices by drivers.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving is to blame for 3,092 fatalities in 2010. In Pennsylvania, there were nearly 14,000 automobile accidents where distracted driving played a role, with 68 people dying in the accidents. […]

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Munley Supports Ban on Cell Phones While Driving

Pennsylvania car accident attorney Caroline Munley today applauded a federal agency’s recommendation for the prohibition of cell phone use by drivers of all personal and commercial vehicles.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December that all drivers be prohibited from using cell phones and other electronic devices behind the wheel.

The proposal grew from the NTSB’s investigation of a multi-vehicle collision in Missouri in 2010 that was caused by a pickup truck driver who was distracted by a text-messaging conversation. The wreck killed two and injured 38.

“We support the NTSB’s recommendation for a complete ban on cell phone use by drivers of all motor vehicles,” said Munley of the Pennsylvania personal injury firm of Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C., which represents victims of car crashes and truck accidents throughout the Northeast. […]

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Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyers Back Ban on Cell Phone Use by Truckers

The Pennsylvania personal injury attorneys of Munley Law said today that they support a proposal by the National Transportation Safety Board to ban the use of all cell phones by truck drivers and other commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

“A prohibition on the use of cell phones and similar devices while operating tractor-trailers, buses or other commercial vehicles is simply the proper move for the safety of the public,” said J. Christopher Munley, a veteran Pennsylvania injury lawyer and managing partner of the Scranton-based law firm, which focuses on representing truck and car accident victims.

“The dangers of distracted driving, particularly the consequences of attention to the road being diverted by cell phones, has been made all too clear by recent fatalities,” said Daniel W. Munley, a partner in the law firm and chairman of the American Association of Justice’s Trucking Litigation Group.

“At Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys, […]

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Despite Ban, Teens Using Cell Phones While Driving

According to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, despite states’ efforts to outlaw teen drivers from chatting on their cell phones, it is occurring at the same level as before the bans went into effect.

Earlier this week, researchers released the finding of an in depth look at North Carolina’s teen driver cell phone ban. They found that even though 95% of parents and 74% of teens support the ban, the new law isn’t reducing the number of teens using their phones while driving. Prior to the ban going into effect, researchers observed 11% of teens leaving high schools with one hand on the wheel, one hand on their phone. Then, after the ban was passed, researchers went back to the same high schools and observed 12% of teens chatting away while driving.

Researchers found that females were more likely than their male counterparts to be using cell phones while driving. […]

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