You do not have to be speeding or reckless to cause a crash. Sometimes, all it takes is a phone in your hand at the wrong time. On highways near Macon and throughout Georgia, we have seen the consequences when drivers choose to text instead of focus. It is not a rare mistake; it is an everyday one. And for those hurt by it, the damage is anything but ordinary.
The Mechanism: How a Text Message Creates a Collision
Texting while driving is not simply “distracted driving” in the abstract sense. It is a specific behavior that attacks the driving task from three separate directions simultaneously, creating a perfect storm of impairment.
Visual Distraction: Eyes Leave the Road
When you compose or read a text message, your eyes must focus on the phone screen. Research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration establishes that a motorist’s eyes are off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds each time they transmit or receive a text. NHTSA’s public safety campaigns typically communicate this as 5 seconds for easier public understanding. At 55 miles per hour, traveling without visual attention for 5 seconds means covering approximately 400 feet. This distance equals the length of an entire football field, meaning texting drivers are essentially piloting their vehicles blindfolded across that full distance.
During those seconds without forward vision, critical visual cues disappear from awareness. Brake lights from the vehicle ahead go unnoticed. Pedestrians entering crosswalks become invisible. Traffic signals change without detection. Road curves approach without recognition. The vehicle ahead begins decelerating, and the texting driver continues at full speed, closing the distance rapidly until impact becomes unavoidable.
Manual Distraction: Hands Leave the Wheel
Vehicle control requires continuous micro-adjustments to steering input. Drivers constantly make small corrections to maintain lane position, compensate for road crown, respond to wind gusts, and adjust for vehicle drift. These corrections are so frequent and subtle that most drivers execute them unconsciously.
When one or both hands leave the steering wheel to hold a phone and manipulate a touchscreen keyboard, this correction system fails. Research from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s naturalistic driving studies documents that texting drivers exhibit increased lane position wandering, more frequent lane departures, and greater variation in lateral vehicle placement compared to non-distracted drivers. The vehicle begins to drift toward lane boundaries, crosses into adjacent lanes, or departs the roadway entirely onto shoulders or into opposing traffic.
The manual distraction also compromises emergency maneuver capability. If a hazard suddenly appears, the driver must first release the phone, return hands to the wheel, establish proper grip, and only then execute a steering correction. This sequence adds precious fractions of a second to reaction time when milliseconds determine whether collision can be avoided.
Cognitive Distraction: The Mind Leaves the Task
Perhaps most insidious is the cognitive load texting imposes. Research from Carnegie Mellon University on phone conversation tasks demonstrates that cell phone use while driving reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by approximately 37 percent. This is not a minor degradation. It represents more than one-third of the mental processing power normally devoted to the driving task being redirected to phone-related activities.
Human beings cannot truly multitask. Our brain has what is called a cognitive load, an amount of mental activity that it can engage in at one time. Our brain is not capable of fully concentrating on two things simultaneously. What feels like simultaneous processing is actually rapid task-switching, with attention bouncing between activities. Each switch carries a cognitive cost. The brain must disengage from one task, engage with another, then disengage and re-engage with the first. During these transition moments, neither task receives adequate processing.
The cognitive load from texting creates what researchers describe as “inattentional blindness,” where drivers fail to notice important visual cues even when their eyes are technically pointed toward them. The eyes may be aimed at the road after looking away from the phone, but the brain is still processing the message content, composing a response, or anticipating incoming texts. The result is “looking but not seeing.”
Research from the University of Utah’s Applied Cognition Lab found that when using voice-command interface systems specifically, drivers remain distracted even after disconnecting from the technology, requiring on average 27 seconds to fully refocus on the road. This “hangover effect” persists well after the phone interaction ends.
Statistical Reality: The Numbers Behind the Crashes
The theoretical mechanisms of texting-related crashes are confirmed by overwhelming statistical evidence from multiple sources.
National Crash Data
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that in 2018, approximately 2,841 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver, with an estimated additional 400,000 people injured. While distracted driving encompasses activities beyond texting, phone use represents a significant portion of these incidents. In 2022, NHTSA reported 3,308 deaths and an estimated 289,310 injuries from distracted driving crashes, with preliminary 2023 data indicating 3,275 fatalities.
The economic impact is staggering. NHTSA’s 2019 comprehensive analysis calculated that motor vehicle crashes cost America $340 billion in economic costs that year, with the total societal harm reaching approximately $1.4 trillion when quality of life valuations are included. Distracted driving accounts for a substantial portion of these costs.
Risk Multiplication
Research from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, conducted specifically in commercial vehicle operations, establishes that drivers who are texting are 23 times more likely to crash compared to non-distracted drivers. This finding from naturalistic driving studies of truck drivers demonstrates the extreme danger texting poses in real-world conditions.
The World Health Organization has pointed out the dangers of mobile phone use while driving, noting that drivers using phones are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than those who are not using a phone. This general phone use statistic encompasses talking, texting, and other phone interactions.
To contextualize this risk level, research comparing impairment effects shows that texting while driving can produce reaction time delays and performance degradation comparable to driving with a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.08, though the specific effects vary by task type and driving conditions. Society has reached broad consensus that drunk driving is unacceptably dangerous. Yet texting creates comparable or greater impairment in many driving scenarios.
Georgia Crash Statistics
Georgia faces a particularly severe distracted driving problem. According to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, distracted driving was involved in 53 percent of all car accidents in the state as of 2022. This percentage is derived from CODES-based post-hoc classification of crashes, where crash outcomes are analyzed after the fact to identify contributing factors. Methodology differences in crash attribution can affect year-to-year comparisons, but the overall pattern remains clear: distracted driving is a factor in approximately half of Georgia collisions.
The trend has worsened dramatically over time. In 2006, there were 5,784 crashes in Georgia where “inattentive,” “cell phone,” or “distracted” was listed as a contributing factor. By 2016, this number had increased to 25,215 crashes. The proliferation of smartphones directly correlates with this exponential increase.
Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety data indicates that in 2020, approximately 283,855 accidents in Georgia involved at least one suspected or confirmed distracted driver, representing a substantial portion of total state crashes.
Age and Demographic Patterns
Young drivers face disproportionate risk. Drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 years old, who represent only 15 percent of all licensed drivers in Georgia, were involved in 26 percent of all distracted driving-related crashes in 2022. This age group also received approximately 32 percent of all distracted driving citations issued that year according to Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety data.
Survey research from multiple sources reveals concerning attitudes among young drivers. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research indicates that the vast majority of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving. However, separate survey data from Texas A&M Transportation Institute shows that approximately 35 percent of young drivers admit to engaging in texting while driving despite knowing the risks. The awareness-behavior gap suggests that knowledge alone does not prevent the behavior. The compulsive nature of smartphone use, combined with adolescent risk perception deficits, creates a dangerous combination.
Macon and Bibb County: Local Crash Reality
The texting-while-driving problem is not an abstraction for Middle Georgia. Macon and Bibb County experience the consequences directly.
Crash Volume and Trends
In 2019, Bibb County reported the most traffic accidents in Southwest Georgia, with a total of 7,720 incidents. According to Georgia Department of Transportation crash data, in 2022 there were 6,715 crashes in Bibb County, causing 3,472 injuries and 52 fatalities from 47 fatal collisions.
To understand the scale, 6,715 annual crashes represent an average of more than 18 crashes every single day in Bibb County. Nearly 10 people suffer injuries in these crashes daily. Every week, on average, one person dies on Bibb County roads.
Distracted drivers were involved in more than half of all vehicle crashes in Georgia, with nearly a third of serious injury accidents involving a distracted driver. While specific distraction-type data for Bibb County is not separately reported, the statewide percentages almost certainly apply locally given the county’s integration into broader Georgia traffic patterns.
High-Risk Locations
Certain Macon intersections and corridors see concentrated crash activity. Road safety assessments conducted for Macon-Bibb County identify the intersection of Gray Highway and Shurling Drive as the most dangerous intersection in Macon, with documented crash data showing 28 injuries at this location. The complex traffic signals and heavy traffic flow create an environment where distraction becomes particularly deadly. A driver focused on composing a text message rather than monitoring signal changes or cross-traffic faces extreme collision risk at this location.
Major interstates I-75, I-16, and I-475, which traverse Macon, have been sites of high-speed crashes, truck wrecks, and multi-vehicle pileups. Interstate highways present unique texting dangers because of the higher speeds involved. A 5-second distraction at 70 miles per hour means traveling over 500 feet without visual attention. At interstate speeds, stopping distances extend dramatically, and the severity of any resulting crash increases exponentially.
Reaction Time: The Critical Difference Between Safe Stop and Collision
Understanding reaction time mechanics reveals why texting creates crashes even when drivers believe they are being careful.
Normal Reaction Time Components
When a hazard appears ahead, the time between hazard appearance and vehicle stop divides into three components: perception time (detecting the change), decision time (identifying the hazard and selecting a response), and response time (physically executing the action). Research from Texas A&M Transportation Institute indicates that combined, these create “thinking distance” or “reaction distance” typically ranging from 1 to 2 seconds for an alert, non-distracted driver. After the brake applies, the vehicle requires additional “braking distance” based on speed, vehicle condition, and road surface. At 55 miles per hour, total stopping distance typically approaches 300 feet.
Texting’s Impact on Reaction Time
Research from Texas A&M Transportation Institute directly measuring reaction time in controlled course conditions shows that distracted drivers require 3 to 4 seconds to react to stimuli, compared to 1 to 2 seconds for non-distracted drivers. This doubles or triples the thinking distance component of stopping distance.
More concerning, in closed-course testing with flashing light warnings, texting drivers were more than 11 times more likely to completely miss the stimulus and not react at all. In these cases, the reaction time becomes effectively infinite because the hazard goes entirely undetected. While this specific finding comes from controlled test conditions with simulated warning signals, it illustrates the severe attention capture that texting creates.
When distracted by a phone, a driver delays the start of reaction to an impending hazard while traveling full speed toward danger, potentially doubling or tripling overall stopping distance. A situation requiring 300 feet to stop now requires 600 or 900 feet. If the hazard appears 400 feet ahead, collision becomes inevitable.
Comparative Impairment
Multiple studies establish that text messaging affects driving performance severely. Research comparing cognitive load effects and task performance shows that texting produces impairment in specific driving tasks that can equal or exceed the effects of driving at the legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08, though the exact comparison varies based on the specific tasks being measured and driving conditions. These are not rhetorical exaggerations. They represent quantified measurements from controlled research conditions.
Georgia’s Legal Response: The Hands-Free Law
Georgia lawmakers recognized the texting threat and enacted progressively stricter regulations.
Evolution of Georgia Texting Law
Prior to 2018, Georgia law prohibited motorists from using a cellphone to write, transmit, or read text data while driving, but drivers were otherwise permitted to use handheld phones except for bus drivers and those under age 18.
The Hands-Free Georgia Act took effect on July 1, 2018, fundamentally changing the state’s approach. The current law is codified at O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-241, which replaced the prior statutes 40-6-241.1 and 40-6-241.2 that were repealed when the Hands-Free Act became effective. Under the current law, no drivers in Georgia are allowed to physically hold or support a wireless telecommunications device with any part of their body while operating a vehicle.
Prohibited Activities Under the Law
Under O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-241, drivers are prohibited from: physically holding or supporting a wireless telecommunications device or stand-alone electronic device with any part of the body while operating a vehicle; writing, sending, or reading text-based communications while driving (though voice-to-text technology is permitted); watching or recording videos while behind the wheel (except for continuously recording dash cameras and GPS navigation displays); and engaging in any actions that distract the driver from safe vehicle operation.
Enforcement and Primary Law Status
Georgia’s cellphone and texting laws are primary laws, meaning an officer can pull a person over for the offense without having to witness some other violation. This contrasts with secondary enforcement states, where officers can only cite distracted driving if they first stop the driver for a different reason. Primary enforcement significantly increases deterrent effect because drivers know they can be stopped solely for visible phone use.
Penalties and Points
Violations of O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-241 carry escalating penalties according to Georgia Department of Driver Services regulations. A first offense within a 24-month period results in a fine of up to $50 and 1 point on the driver’s license. A second offense within 24 months increases the fine to $100 and adds 2 points. A third or subsequent offense carries a $150 fine and 3 points. While these monetary penalties may seem modest, the license points can accumulate with other violations and lead to license suspension for drivers who exceed 15 points in 24 months.
Conviction Statistics
Since the Hands-Free Law took effect, the number of distracted driving convictions processed by the Georgia Department of Driver Services increased 5.5 times during the first 18 months. By 2022, nearly 49,000 distracted driving convictions were recorded statewide according to Georgia Department of Driver Services reports. The dramatic conviction increase reflects both enhanced enforcement and continued driver non-compliance. Despite increased penalties and public awareness campaigns, tens of thousands of Georgia drivers each year continue texting behind the wheel.
Types of Crashes Texting Causes
Texting contributes to crashes across multiple collision categories, each with characteristic injury patterns.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end crashes represent one of the most common texting-related collision types. The scenario is straightforward: a driver focused on texting fails to notice the vehicle ahead has braked or stopped. By the time visual attention returns to the roadway, insufficient distance remains to avoid impact.
Research from NHTSA’s 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study examining real-world driving behavior found that visual inattention was a contributing factor in a significant portion of rear-end striking crashes. At highway speeds, rear-end impacts can produce severe whiplash injuries, traumatic brain injuries from secondary head impacts, and crush injuries if following vehicles pile into the initial collision.
Intersection Crashes
In closed-course testing conditions, research shows texting drivers are dramatically more likely to completely miss visual signals like flashing warning lights. This attention failure manifests prominently at real-world intersections where traffic signals, stop signs, and yield signs require constant visual monitoring.
A texting driver approaches a red light without detecting the signal change, enters the intersection at full speed, and strikes cross-traffic proceeding on green. These T-bone or side-impact collisions often produce catastrophic injuries because vehicles lack the same crumple-zone protection on their sides that they have in front and rear.
Single-Vehicle Crashes
Research documents that texting impairs drivers’ ability to maintain proper lane position and hold constant speed. Without continuous steering corrections, vehicles drift laterally until departing the roadway or crossing the centerline.
Run-off-road crashes into fixed objects (trees, poles, barriers) account for a significant portion of severe injury collisions. Without the energy-absorbing benefit of striking another vehicle, all crash forces concentrate on the occupants of the single vehicle.
Pedestrian and Cyclist Impacts
According to NHTSA’s 2022 distracted driving data, approximately 18 percent of the 3,308 distracted driving fatalities that year involved non-occupants, including pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users.
Vulnerable road users are easier to overlook than vehicles. A texting driver misses seeing a pedestrian entering a crosswalk or a cyclist traveling alongside. When drivers look at their phone for even a few seconds, they miss seeing people around them, and victims can include pedestrians, cyclists, children playing, and more.
Pedestrian impacts typically produce devastating injuries given the mass differential and lack of protective structures around the human body.
Proving Texting Caused the Crash
For injury victims seeking compensation, establishing that texting caused the collision presents significant challenges.
Evidence Difficulties
Proving texting and driving in accident cases involves several challenges: direct evidence scarcity (hard to find proof of texting right before the crash); privacy laws (legal hurdles in accessing phone records due to privacy protections); driver denial (at-fault drivers often deny phone use, complicating evidence collection); witness reliability (witness accounts can change or vary over time); technical challenges (difficult to prove details of texting activity with phone company data); and data retrieval (requiring a subpoena to obtain detailed data from cell phone providers can be a slow and complex process).
Available Evidence Types
Despite challenges, multiple evidence sources can establish texting. Attorneys can subpoena phone records to determine if a driver was using their phone at the time of the accident. Phone carrier records show when text messages were sent or received, though they typically do not reveal message content. Correlation between message timestamps and crash times creates powerful circumstantial evidence.
In some cases, the phone itself can be forensically examined. Deleted messages can often be recovered. Screen activity logs may show which apps were active at the time of the crash.
Other drivers or passengers sometimes observe the at-fault driver looking down at a phone or holding a device prior to impact. If uninjured at the accident scene, victims can take proactive measures to gather evidence, particularly if suspecting the collision was caused by the other driver being distracted by a smartphone.
Police reports may note the use of a cell phone or other distracting behavior. Officers trained in distracted driving detection sometimes observe telltale signs like the phone still in the driver’s hand, messages displayed on the screen, or admissions made at the scene.
Legal Consequences and Compensation
When texting causes a crash, multiple legal consequences follow for the at-fault driver. The texting driver bears financial responsibility for all damages caused, including medical expenses (emergency care, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, future treatment), lost wages (past and future earning capacity), property damage (vehicle repair or replacement), pain and suffering (physical pain and emotional distress), loss of consortium (impact on family relationships), and permanent disability or disfigurement.
Georgia’s comparative negligence system means that if injured in an accident caused by a distracted driver, victims can seek compensation even if they share some fault. However, recovery amount will be reduced by the victim’s percentage of fault. For example, if found 20 percent at fault, compensation will be reduced by 20 percent.
When distraction from a smartphone is involved, the argument for punitive damages becomes stronger, potentially leading to a greater overall settlement. Courts occasionally allow punitive damages to punish defendants and discourage such behavior in the future when the at-fault driver was behaving in egregious, unlawful ways.
Texting while driving, as a knowing violation of safety laws, can support punitive damage awards beyond mere compensation for actual losses.
Beyond civil liability, severe crashes can result in criminal prosecution. Penalties for distracted driving violations in Georgia under O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-241 range from traffic citations with fines to more severe charges depending on the accident’s severity and evidence pointing toward distraction. Consequences could vary from a minor fine for a traffic citation to charges of vehicular homicide in the event of a fatal crash.
The Biological Reality: Humans Cannot Multitask
Understanding why texting causes crashes requires grappling with fundamental cognitive limitations. Our brain has what is called a cognitive load, an amount of mental activity that it can engage in at one time. Our brain is not capable of fully concentrating on two things simultaneously.
What feels like multitasking is actually rapid task-switching. The brain toggles between activities, devoting full attention to each for brief moments while the other receives no processing. This creates the subjective illusion of simultaneity, but objective performance measurements reveal the truth: both tasks suffer degradation.
Research investigating the cognitive processes underlying texting while driving finds that the decision-making process involves impulsive behavior. Executive function, defined as “cognitive abilities for adaptive functioning, allowing for behavior that is more goal-oriented, flexible, and autonomous,” plays a role.
One hallmark of texting while driving is that drivers engage in the behavior despite awareness of its negative consequences. The vast majority of drivers know texting impairs driving and increases crash risk, yet many continue the behavior. This disconnect between knowledge and action reflects impulsivity and compromised executive function.
A “fear of missing out” or “FOMO” is considered one of the reasons for texting and driving. FOMO is the anxiety caused by missing an exciting or interesting event, leading people to use their phones while driving. Surveys show a significant percentage of drivers admit that if they are afraid of missing something important when driving, they will use their phone as a result.
The smartphone creates a constant sense of potential communication awaiting attention. The notification ping or vibration triggers an almost irresistible compulsion to check the device immediately, regardless of current circumstances. Drivers rationally understand they should wait until safely stopped, but the anxiety of missing immediate information overrides rational judgment.
Data Tables: Texting Impact Quantified
Table 1: Distance Traveled During 5-Second Text at Various Speeds
Based on the standard calculation of distance = speed × time, converting miles per hour to feet per second (mph × 1.467 = feet per second), then multiplying by 5 seconds:
| Vehicle Speed | Distance Traveled in 5 Seconds | Visual Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| 35 mph | 257 feet | Nearly 1 football field |
| 45 mph | 330 feet | More than 1 football field |
| 55 mph | 403 feet | More than 1.3 football fields |
| 65 mph | 477 feet | Nearly 1.6 football fields |
| 75 mph | 550 feet | Nearly 2 football fields |
Note: Football field length is 300 feet from goal line to goal line. Calculations based on NHTSA’s typical 5-second duration for sending or reading a text message.
Table 2: Georgia Statewide Distracted Driving Statistics
| Metric Description | Value | Year | Data Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage of all crashes involving distracted driver | 53% | 2022 | GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety |
| Total distracted driving crashes | 283,855 | 2020 | GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety |
| Annual distracted driving convictions | ~49,000 | 2022 | GA Department of Driver Services |
| Conviction increase after Hands-Free Law | 5.5x | 2018-2020 | GA Department of Driver Services |
| Young drivers (15-24) involved in distraction crashes | 26% | 2022 | GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety |
| Young drivers (15-24) receiving citations | 32% | 2022 | GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety |
| Young drivers (15-24) as percentage of all licensed drivers | 15% | 2022 | GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety |
Note: The 53% figure is derived from CODES-based post-hoc crash classification methodology.
Table 3: Bibb County (Macon) Crash Data
| Crash Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total crashes | 7,720 | 2019 | Local safety reports |
| Total crashes | 6,715 | 2022 | GA Dept of Transportation |
| Total injuries | 3,472 | 2022 | GA Dept of Transportation |
| Total fatalities | 52 | 2022 | GA Dept of Transportation |
| Gray Highway/Shurling Drive injuries | 28 | Multi-year | Road Safety Assessment |
Source: Georgia Department of Transportation crash data dashboard, Macon-Bibb County road safety assessments
Prevention: Breaking the Texting Habit
Given the overwhelming evidence of harm, how can drivers break the texting-while-driving habit?
Phone Management Strategies
Silence the phone or enable “Do Not Disturb” mode before getting in the car so there is no temptation to look when notifications appear. Many smartphones now include a “Driving Mode” feature that automatically activates when the phone detects vehicle motion.
Keep the phone somewhere inaccessible, like in the back seat or trunk, so resisting the temptation to check it becomes easier. If the device is physically out of reach, the impulse to grab it diminishes.
If the phone must be used for navigation, mount it to the dashboard so the map is visible without taking eyes off the road, and turn off all other notifications so no pop-up distractions appear during the drive.
Social Pressure and Accountability
Research initiatives from campaigns like AT&T’s “It Can Wait” suggest that social influence from close contacts can impact driver behavior regarding phone use while driving. Family members, particularly children, asking a parent to stop texting while driving creates powerful motivation for behavior change.
Peer pressure among teenagers works both ways. While some teens text because their friends do, others respond positively when friends commit to phone-free driving. Teen-led initiatives and pledges can create positive social norms around distraction-free driving.
Technology Solutions and Limitations
Some vehicles now include systems that integrate phones into dashboard displays, reducing the need to handle the device. However, research from the University of Utah’s Applied Cognition Lab found that even hands-free technology still contributes to distracted driving, and the cognitive distraction can persist for a significant time after the interaction ends.
Apps that block phone functionality while driving are available, though their effectiveness depends on voluntary activation and consistent use. Some insurance companies now offer programs that monitor driving behavior through smartphone apps, providing discounts for distraction-free driving.
Technology is not a complete solution. The only truly safe approach is avoiding phone interaction entirely while the vehicle is in motion.
Conclusion: The Preventable Tragedy
Texting while driving causes crashes through a scientifically documented mechanism combining visual, manual, and cognitive distraction. NHTSA research shows that sending or reading a text typically takes a driver’s eyes off the road for approximately 5 seconds, during which a vehicle travels the length of a football field without guidance. This visual interruption, combined with manual control loss and profound cognitive impairment, dramatically increases crash risk and produces reaction time degradation that research shows can equal or exceed the impairment of drunk driving in specific task conditions.
In Georgia, distracted driving was involved in 53 percent of crashes in 2022 according to state highway safety office data, based on post-crash analysis methodology. In Macon and Bibb County specifically, 6,715 crashes occurred in 2022 according to Georgia Department of Transportation records, with distracted driving as a significant contributing factor statewide. The conviction data is stark: nearly 49,000 distracted driving convictions were processed in Georgia in 2022, representing a 5.5-fold increase since the Hands-Free Law took effect.
Georgia’s Hands-Free Law, enacted July 1, 2018 and codified at O.C.G.A. Section 40-6-241, prohibits physically holding phones while driving. Yet the crashes continue. Young drivers ages 15 to 24, despite representing only 15 percent of licensed drivers, account for 26 percent of distracted driving crashes.
Every one of these crashes was preventable. Every injury was avoidable. Every death was unnecessary. The text message can wait. The email can wait. The social media post can wait. Nothing transmitted through a phone is worth a human life.
For those injured by a texting driver, Georgia law provides remedies including compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and in cases of egregious conduct, punitive damages. Proving texting occurred requires cell phone records, witness testimony, and sometimes forensic phone examination, but experienced attorneys can build strong cases even when direct evidence seems limited.
The solution begins with individual choice. Put the phone down. Silence it. Place it out of reach. Focus on driving. The highways near Macon and throughout Georgia will be safer when every driver makes that choice every time they get behind the wheel.
Talk to a Car Accident Lawyer in Macon GA Today
Texting while driving is not a harmless mistake. It is a decision that puts others in danger. If you were hurt because someone else made that choice, you deserve answers and action. At Prine Law Group, we take these cases seriously. We investigate fast, build strong claims, and fight for what is fair.
Call 478-257-6333 or fill out our secure online form to schedule a free consultation with an experienced car accident lawyer in Macon GA. You have been through enough. Let us help you move forward.