What will it take to get the message through to Americans that we are slaughtering each other on our roads, highways and train lines, and all for the sake of a phone call or a text message that could have waited?

Perhaps a catastrophic train wreck will be our wake-up call? Or perhaps school bus carnage? Actually, both such things already have occurred this month.

These horrific accidents could have been avoided if the driver of a semi truck and a commuter train had been paying attention, rather than being distracted by using a cell phone.

In Florida, four young students are in critical condition and a 13-year-old eighth-grade girl is dead because a man driving a large semi truck was talking on his cell phone and slammed into the back of a school bus as it was stopped to let students get off.

The bus was being operated properly, with full use of its warning signs to show that the bus had stopped and that children were disembarking. The semi truck did not even slow, but rammed into the bus at a high speed. The driver was simply too distracted to notice — and in traffic accidents, one or two moments of inattention can be all it takes to produce a tragedy.

Similarly, a Los Angeles commuter train crashed headon into a freight train recently because the commuter train’s driver was busy sending text messages — a practice that’s forbidden by the train line for very good reasons.

In this accident, the train driver ignored clear warnings to stop. He was too busy with what he thought was a more important activity: sending text messages. As a result, the United States suffered its worst train accident in 15 years, with 25 people dead, including the train driver, and another 135 people injured, many of them seriously.

Neither of these accidents should have happened — but they did. And they happened because too many people believe it’s more important to call or to text while driving than to pay full attention. They believe their attentiveness and abilities are not compromised by multi-tasking at a time when only one task truly matters, and that’s being safe. Thus, they believe incorrectly.

Even pedestrians who walk while texting are a threat these days, though largely just to themselves.

Anytime you see anyone who’s driving a car while using a cell phone or a PDA, you are seeing an endorsement of the very behavior which led to so many deaths and debilitating injuries in just these two latest calamities involving a train and a school bus.

There’s a time and a place for everything, and the time for texting or calling is not while someone is operating a vehicle that’s capable of costing people their lives.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to a driver’s cell phone distractions, contact a cell phone accident lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates. The law firm offers a free case review and will give your case the attention it deserves.

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