Fairfield Distracted Driving Conference
I’m Ed Smith, a Fairfield personal injury attorney. Statistics show that the amount of deaths caused by preventable accidents has risen as much as 14 percent in the space of two years, and many officials believe that distracted driving is one of the primary causes. As a response to the troubling increase in fatal accidents, on April 12, 2017, Kaiser Permanente hosted an event as part of National Distracted Driving Awareness month in order to bring awareness to the increasing problem of motorists being inattentive while operating their vehicles.
Attendance
The event was attended by not only representatives of the Fairfield Police and Fire Departments, but by representatives from California Highway Patrol (CHP), Medical Ambulance, the NorthBay Trauma Center, and the Vacaville and Vallejo Police and Fire Departments as well.
What Inspired the Event?
Dr. Bandy, Kaiser’s chief of Emergency and Trauma Surgery, said that, as a father, he understands how important it is to get this message out to teens as well as parents, adding that his experiences treating people injured in car accidents caused by distracted driving have inspired him to spread the message.
Distracted Driving Accidents
Kelly Browning, the executive director of Kaiser’s program, entitled “Impact Teen Drivers,” explained that the program began because of a stress survey that was given to highway patrol officers. Browning noted that the record of distracted driving accidents has seriously impacted officers and that officers can’t always tell if an accident has been caused by distracted driving and usually don’t know until someone speaks up about it.
Reaching Young Drivers
Browning’s hope is that Kaiser’s program will show teens who are just beginning to drive that they make serious choices when they operate their vehicles, noting that she believes that discovering the consequences of their choices on their own works more effectively. To that end, the event made use of a virtual reality simulator that offered attendees the chance to experience being inside of the vehicle of a distracted driver at the time of an accident.
Fairfield Distracted Driving Conference – Bringing Awareness to Youth
One employee of Kaiser who attended the event said that the experience was “life-changing” and told reporters she has seen auto accidents caused by inattentive drivers and wants her children, two teenage boys, to make good, safe decisions while they are behind the wheel. Her youngest son was at the event and tried the simulator.
After his experience with the distracted driving simulator, the boy said that he “would have done things differently” if he had been driving the car, adding that it “was obnoxious how many times the person was looking at their phone.” The teenager also said that, after attending the event, he would never use his cell phone while driving and, additionally, didn’t want his mother to do so, either.
Fairfield Car Accident Lawyer & Personal Injury Attorneys
I’m Ed Smith, a Fairfield personal injury attorney. If you, or someone close to you has been seriously injured or died in an accident, call me at (707) 564-1900 for free, friendly advice. Or, contact me toll-free at (800) 404-5400.
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Fairfield Distracted Driving Conference ~
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