Driver’s distractions are an important factor for the increasing road accidents. The all inspiring gadgets with their exciting features have caused driver to take their eyes of the road, their hands off the steering wheels, and even their minds of the roads and the surrounding situations. In recent years, this cognitive distraction has become a big concern for road safety experts.  Recently an American couple launched a lawsuit against the iPhone maker company Apple for being the cause of death of their daughter.

James and Bethany Modisette’s young girl got killed in a car crash because the driver was allegedly using FaceTime on his iPhone. On Christmas Eve 2014, this accident happened on a Texan road in which a five-year old Moriah Modisette passed away. Parents of the girl are now seeking damages for the defendant’s failure to install and implement a safer design for its applications. The lawsuit asserts that the firm was supposed to introduce a feature to disable the use of video-char application while driving. The patent issued by the US patent office in 2014 aimed to lock out users while driving but it failed to do so.

Garrett Wilhelm, the driver who was involved in the crash was driving his SUV behind the Modisette family’s vehicle at a high speed. He himself told the police that at the time of crash he was busy using FaceTime and it was still working at the time when authorities found his phone from the scene. In February Mr. Wilhelm will be facing a jury trial on murder charges.

Lorry Death

This issue is becoming a growing concern and these risks are likely to evolve alongside the rapid technological changes taking place globally. Several studies have been quoted by the lawsuit for the use of tech by teenagers while driving. One report for telecom firm AT&T found that almost 43% of the teenagers admitted to texting and emailing while they were driving.

According to a recent study by RAC declared that the use of mobile phone by motorist is also increasing. Double fines are being planned for licenses of people who are caught using mobile phones while driving. In the last four years, almost 10,000 drivers have been caught twice for being distracted in a BBC Radio 5 Live Freedom of Information request to DVLA.

For almost ten years a lorry driver Tomasz Kroker is in in prison in UK for the murder of three children and their mother after getting distracted by his smartphone. The reports have found that he was not even aware of almost a kilometer ahead of him while he was driving on the road.

Deaths and injuries have an immeasurable impact on families as they tragically and irrevocably change people’s lives. These injuries not only create a huge emotional toll but also cause damage to the families and nations as a whole. Addressing the issue any later will not only make it difficult to deal with but will also lead to more preventable deaths on roads around the world.

Via: BBC