At this time of year we reflect and make resolutions to improve our lives. Here’s a resolution that could do more, it could save your life and the lives of others: Resolve in 2014 that you won’t text and drive. It is free, easy, does not require exercise or diet, and it’s the law.
This Florida Law was enacted to save lives. The facts are clear that texting and driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving. Distracted Driving Data for 2012 make it clear that distracted driving must end; it kills and injures people.
The Terrell • Hogan Distracted Driving Awareness Campaign for the Workforce was created to move the anti-distracted driving effort into more Northeast Florida workplaces.  Our message is clear in the presentations: One text or call can wreck it all.  Distracted driving is a national epidemic that claimed 3,328 lives and injured 421,000 people in 2012. We want to help change those statistics.
In addition to delving into the dangers of distracted driving, the presentation explores strategies to combat it and the legal and business consequences when distracted driving causes injury or death including: civil liability and punitive damages, productivity loss, property damage, brand damage and even criminal charges. As a law firm representing personal injury and wrongful death victims in Jacksonville and all of the First Coast, experience tells us that car accidents are usually just that, accidents, meaning that negligence, not intention, is the cause of most vehicular injuries and deaths. However, it’s worth knowing that since texting and driving, like alcohol or drug impaired driving, is illegal, the line between negligence and intent blurs when judging the cause of an accident. Texting and driving that causes a deadly accident is being prosecuted as manslaughter across the USA. A momentary error can take a life and alter many lives in an instant.
Since the Terrell • Hogan Distracted Driving Awareness Campaign for the Workforce launched in January 2013, the law firm has delivered the presentation to nearly 1,200 adult drivers in Northeast Florida to non-profits, businesses and civic groups. Audience members are surprised to learn that if they are in a crash, their employer can be held liable if they made a work-related communication on their own phone in their personal vehicles. They also learn about implementing electronic device policies and policies used by some companies are shared. It is gratifying to hear an attendee say, “You may have saved a life today.” Organizations have adopted or strengthened their cell phone use policies after participating in the presentation.
The presentation for the workforce was inspired by End Distracted Driving,  an educational initiative for teen drivers that the firm has offered to area high schools since 2012. End Distracted Driving was created by the Casey Feldman Memorial Foundation in memory of Casey Feldman, a 21 year-old pedestrian who lost her life to a distracted driver as she crossed the street.
Please make the End Distracted Driving Pledge  your New Year’s Resolution today, and share it with your family and friends.