How many wake-up calls does it take to drive home the point that driving is serious business — always? Driving requires your full attention, and that means keeping your hands on the wheel, your eyes on the road and your mind on operating a heavy vehicle at sometimes high speeds in complex traffic.

Apparently a woman in Illinois didn’t think driving required such focus. In fact, she thought driving was incidental to her primary task: painting her nails. And as a result, another woman is dead — an innocent woman who was stopped at a traffic light on her motorcycle and was wearing a helmet but nonetheless perished when a car driven by the nail-painter hit her from behind.

Investigating officers at the site of the rural Illinois motorcycle accident said the distracted driver of the car admitted she wasn’t paying attention because she was painting her fingernails. Now Anita Zaffke, who was on the motorcycle, is dead.

It’s tough enough being a motorcycle driver in today’s world, when 13 per cent of traffic fatalities are people on motorcycles, though they’re only 2 per cent of drivers. Even when wearing a helmet on a motorcycle, you are far more vulnerable than the occupants of cars or trucks, no matter how safely you perform.

At least motorcycle drivers are far less likely to injure others via the galling distractions of those who turn their car into a nail salon, a restaurant or a forum for a texting contest. Operating a motorcycle simply doesn’t allow it.

Of course, neither does the proper operation of any motor vehicle, yet Americans continue to disregard such demands and their duty to safety while multi-tasking, phoning, texting and even nail-painting behind the wheel. As a result, still more innocent lives are robbed, and no irrelevant driver diversion is worth that. If you don’t believe us, check out Consumer Reports‘ latest story on the plague of America’s roads and highways.

If you or a family member has suffered in a motorcycle accident, car accident or any form of accident due to the negligence of a distracted driver, fight back with a Texas motorcycle accident lawyer or car accident lawyer from longtime personal injury law firm Jim S. Adler & Associates. It can provide you a Texas motorcycle accident lawyer to ensure that those who are responsible are held accountable, and that you gain fair and full financial compensation for your loss.

Such monetary recovery can’t bring back victims like Anita Zaffke, but it can send a loud and clear message to distracted drivers. Perhaps then they’ll stop painting their nails long enough to learn there’s a far higher price to pay for indifference to safety than they might have thought.

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