The Risks Of Driving While Using Vehicle Entertainment Systems

Navigation, subscription radio, connected cellular, internet, emails and more all displayed on a central dash panel in your vehicle. Designed to make your driving experience more convenient. Find a place with a touch of the screen. Get your messages and emails on the go. Play your favorite music anywhere without commercials. Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?

Yet, everyday these onboard consoles contribute to hundreds of deaths across the country.

How could that be?

Why aren’t manufacturers of these cars doing something about it? Simply, it’s what helps sells a vehicle. The more technology that is pushed, pumped and prodded into a car, truck and yes, even motorcycles the more people want to buy them.

Some cars now even display the messages, icons and other features right on the windshield visible to the driver. This potentially causes one eye to focus on the heads up display while the other is trying to stay focused on the road. When this occurs we lose our ability to see things peripheral. Or in other words…not seeing things on the side while looking straight ahead.

It’s called distracted driving!

The very thing that is entertaining us, informing us and connecting us to the world outside our vehicle is the very same thing that is causing us to be distracted long enough to cause an accident.

Now you might be thinking aren’t these onboard consoles safer than texting or using our mobile phones while driving? And some would argue if they weren’t safe why would they market them when selling the cars and trucks of today.

People are injured or killed every day by distracted drivers. Having cars that allow us to access information through a head’s up display, a dashboard or console of some sort just adds to the list of potential distractions a driver faces while driving on the road.

Unfortunately, the time involved in glancing down at a mobile device versus looking at the dashboard doesn’t make a good excuse. And, trying to explain to a jury that you were responsible for killing someone, because you were not paying attention to the road, doesn’t work.

You were simply distracted.

You were more concerned about the incoming call, where the navigation was taking you or what message a friend was sending than where you were on the road. The jury doesn’t want to hear that Lady Gaga’s newest song was playing through your car system’s Bluetooth or that you received an email or a text saying you’ve gotten that new job or whatever shape emoji a friend just sent you.

Nope. Sadly, those things will never reverse the injuries or death you caused the moment you decided to shift your eyes away from the road.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident caused by distracted driving, it’s important to get a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with car accidents and personal injuries who can help you early on in the process to begin protecting your rights and interests immediately. Feel free to call our office at (219) 736-9700 and speak to a member of our legal team.