Kinds of Distracted Driving in Florida

Every year, distracted drivers kill or seriously injure thousands of people in the Sunshine State. Most of these drivers mistakenly believe they can multitask behind the wheel the same way they multitask behind a desk. But there’s a big difference between a relatively static office, school, or home environment and the constantly changing on a street or highway.

Quite simply, good driving requires close attention to details. A good Winter Garden personal injury lawyer takes the same approach in a legal case. Concentration, dedication, and attention to detail usually make the difference between maximum compensation in a car wreck claim and settling for less. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Manual Distraction

Many people believe that driving while distracted means taking a hand off the wheel. Manual distraction is only one component of distracted driving. It’s not even the most dangerous kind of distracted driving. More on that below.

A hand-held device is obviously manually distracting. But so is eating while driving, drinking while driving, and other “socially acceptable” distractions.

As is often the case in car wreck cases, manual distraction combined with another kind of driver error, such as aggressive driving, is especially dangerous. For example, drivers cannot effectively control speeding vehicles with only one hand on the wheel. It only takes a moment for a driver to see an emergency, put down a sandwich, and put two hands on the wheel. But a car crash often occurs in less than a moment.

Visual Distraction

Speaking of moments, most cars travel the length of a football field in the time required to read a three or four-word text message. This statistic highlights the dangers of visual distraction. That text message could be on a hand-held device or a “safe” hands-free device.

Visual distraction eliminates the ability to deal with unexpected situations, such as jaywalking pedestrians or stopped-short cars.

The duty of reasonable care requires drivers to be alert and watchful for such unexpected situations. If a breach of care, such as visual distraction, causes injury, a Winter Garden personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation for that injury.

The device use log may be the best evidence of distraction in a device distraction case. In non-device distraction cases, tortfeasors (negligent drivers) often tell emergency responders and/or witnesses they were distracted. These statements are very compelling evidence in court.

Cognitive Distraction

Cognitive distraction, or taking one’s mind off driving, may be the most difficult kind of distracted driving to prove. However, as stated above, many tortfeasors admit they were distracted.

Cognitive distraction is also an independent form of distraction. When people read text messages or look at videos, they usually think about these things for at least thirty seconds before they fully re-engage with driving. Thirty seconds is almost an eternity when traveling behind the wheel.

Connect With a Tough-Minded Orange County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Winter Garden, contact Goldman Law, P.A. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.

Source:

flhsmv.gov/2025/04/02/distracted-driving-a-triple-threat/