it seems almost everywhere you go people are on their cell phones if you look a little bit closer most of those people are probably teenagers now technology does have many useful purposes but what happens when it starts to have some negative effects teenagers are four times more likely to be in a texting and driving accident than adults every to every day eleven teenagers die from texting and driving accidents even a ninety five percent of them say that they know there's a problem the only way we can prevent this is if we all work together accidents well first i like to thank you for calling patrick thank you call for having me and so how would you say that these acts and start to affect the driver of the situations well i think one of the things that you see doing what what we do in representing people injured in accidents is is just how prolific these distracted driving accidents actually are and how serious the consequences of them are and that's why i do want to say i appreciate you having me on and i think what you're doing here is just a wonderful effort to spread information about how we can try to step by step to help deal with this problem because it is injuring people on a daily basis and in some cases it's killing people and it's something that could not affect people more than taking away the lives of loved ones or or cars and very serious injuries damages that how would you say this affect say you get yourself into a texa and how do you say that affects you personally well i think there's the obvious any accident you get in is going to raise your we're talking about people in this high school there in the parents insurance rates but i think there's the other side of it which is i don't think anybody wants to have that on their conscience that they were texting they were doing something else that is distracted that could have been avoided and they seriously injured someone and it's those sorts of things that truly nobody wants to have to live with or deal with and if possible it's something i think we would all want to avoid it would you say age plays a factor into that accidents happening and  how like frequency of them i think the answer to that is yes and no and it's one of the things that that i want to talk really directly about is a lot of people say distracted driving is a teenage issue it's not  and what what we have seen is though though teenagers do have a high rate of distracted driving accidents adults have a high rate as well and what a lot of adults have said is as well yes it's a teenage issue it's something that teens need to work on but but it's not it's a societal issue it's something that we all need to be aware of we all need to take steps about and i think it's it's again one of the reasons why something like your show here is so impactful because it's about reaching not just your peers not just your fellow students but it's allowing and ave to reach their parents and their family and friends and people in the community because you and everybody at the school have a voice and a lot of people that you know and a lot of people that you can reach and to to get that message out that it's not just teens that do this it's everybody does it and everybody needs to to be aware of that and work on it how would you say society plays a factor into these accidents well i think society plays a factor in a couple different ways one is that technology has now become  evolved it changes by the moment and teenagers in particular are on the cutting edge you know they you are the first generation that really grew up with this technology and because of that you're the most technologically  savvy you you get it you understand it you know how to use it before other people do and because of that there is a tendency to be using the more you understand it you know how to use it so you use it more  and i think from a societal perspective in a lot of in a lot of ways there's this fear of missing out i'm must i must be in the loop at all times and when it comes to the serious ramifications of something like this one of the messages we're trying to get through is it's it's far better to put down the phone for fifteen minutes it's far better to wait then to do something that could literally cause someone  death and how would you say that law enforcement plays a factor here and not only preventing these from happening but at the scene of an accident what goes on there like how would they be their main role i'd say well one of the things that that everybody should know is that it is illegal in the commonwealth of pennsylvania to text while you're driving it's also illegal to do other things that that constitute distracted driving and that and that's something we all need to talk about which is distracted driving it's not just texting it's not just being on the phone it's it's anything that draws your attention away from the roadway and away from your driving and things like wearing headsets headphones while you're driving is also illegal and if a police officer sees somebody do in either of those two things it's an offense and somebody can be fined but additionally a police officer is going to investigate a crash scene to determine if that was the cause of someone's crash and that's that's not a position anybody wants to be in is to be sitting there and have to acknowledge that this crash that was was truly avoidable was caused because they weren't paying attention had to read a text or read a message  a good step but what what studies have shown is hands free communication on your phone is not absolutely safe it is still a method of distracted driving and so when you see  moving to hands free cellular use it's a good first step but but people need to be aware that that hands free usually comes with pushing a button to initiate it or a voice activation to initiate it or a scroll through your contacts to initiate it as well as andean the caller or pause in the call and all of those things draw your attention away from the roadway and any time you do that even for a second can can lead to a crash that really impacts your someone else's life right so how would so if there was a accident say it happened how is that any different from if you if you're using hands free how is that any different from just talking to a passenger well i think it's a great point call i don't think it is and i think that's something that people need to be aware of again about distracted driving it's not just sending text turning around talking to a passenger looking over to your right and talking to somebody in the passenger seat all of those are forms of distracted driving and expanding what people understand to be exposed distracted driving is a real first step in trying to solve the problem because some people say exactly what you just asked well how is that different well it may not be but that's because they both present danger and it's something people need to be aware of and how how should people that don't text and jives even be aware of that issue be worried about it well i think it's like anything else there are other people on the roadway that may not be driving how they're supposed to or safely and that doesn't mean that you should do the same if somebody is driving distracted your chance of  missing or avoiding an accident that they cause is increased if you're alert and you're paying attention and you're doing what you need to do to keep the roadway safe and so those though there are people that are doing things like this  you are going to be safer if you're doing the right things how would say you're in the car as a friend and they have to pick up the phone and start texting what are some things you can do to try to prevent them from doing that i think with everything and it's why hopefully people that that see this and listen to this you know appreciate what it is you're trying to do here communication is the key to the game the more people talk about it the more people understand the more people have a dialogue about it it increases everybody's knowledge but it also allows for a discussion like you're talking about when you say your friend hey would you mind can can you wait until we get somewhere or hey if you got to send a message i'll it for you those sorts of things are easier to do when people are having a general discussion all the time about what a problem this is and how do you think parents play a role into this i think parents play a really big role and  s for two different reasons one kids tend to follow what their parents do they emulate what they see and parents who drive in a distracted manner have kids that are two to four times more likely to drive in a distracted manner you see mom or dad eating the burger in their lap while they're driving you see them using the phone that's what we're going to do if we've seen our parents do it but but the other thing is aside from leading by example it's an understanding that it's not just a teenage issue this is an issue for adults college kids teenagers alike and all of the things that we talk about of the risks that are posed by distracted driving are the same for adults and it's something that adults need to recognize and understand so that they can avoid the same perils that anyone else would and how do you get people to care about this before it ends up being too late well i think it is again a product of discussing raising their their awareness you have done a lot of a lot of research on this and in talking to you before the show it's something that you are very emotionally devoted to ye and i think when you when you read numbers when you realize that ten percent of all fatalities on the road came from distracted driving you know five hundred thousand people a year are injured by distracted driving and if anybody wants to they can go to our web site it's a full on a dot com and you can see the different distracted driving videos and statistics that are there that really shine a light on this and the more you look at those the more you expose those things to light the more people have to understand and accept what the reality is whenever you hear about like the death toll as of texting and driving it makes you think of a lot it's a lot like drinking and driving in a way  they're pretty similar but it's just i feel like the same light isn't shined on texan driving it is for junking i completely agree with the cole i think i think that is spot on and the analogy that you just drew there is so appropriate because there is a lot of information out there that says that if you are texting and driving if you are distracted and driving your reaction time is the same as if you had a point zero eight blood alcohol level it is the same as if you were drunk driving people at this point don't see it that way and what what the transformation needs to be is just like if you're at the a party and somebody is drinking or has been drinking and you say no you know don't get behind the wheel we're taking your keys we're not letting you drive it has to be the same thing if you see somebody that that is on their phone or is reaching for their phone rather drive and saying no you know keep your hands on the wheel and keep looking because if not i don't want to be in the car with you and what are some like things you can do if you're in an emergency situation like say you're on the road you're lost or you just don't know where you're going what some things you can do that that way you're not texting and driving while you're driving the i think the easiest example is you pull over you stop and i think that's part of this message going back to what you asked were the beginning  it is that there is the constant feeling sometimes that i've got to be there i've got to be there now i have to respond i have to be in the loop and it sometimes if you just take a minute or two pull back and say wait a minute let me collect myself let me figure out what i'm doing it can avoid a really horrendous result why do you think that these teenagers and adults think that this texas so important that if they're late for work they have to they have to text their boss right then and tell them and set of just telling them whenever they get there i think a lot of that goes to to what we were saying with the change in technology all of those avenues are now at our disposal with our devices it is now become habit it's now become commonplace to just pick up your phone and use whatever tools it provides and so i think we've all gotten a little bit of a habit of you know doing it immediately and connecting immediately where really if you if you just waited a minute or two or pulled over and did it it would make a real difference and wouldn't change what time you got there what time people learned of what your plans were these habits like easy to break would you say but they're pretty difficult why do i think the fact that you know we have to do a show like this to bring the attention to people shows how difficult they are and but the more the more you do them the more you discuss the the sorts of issues the more people realize that when you're doing that you're literally making the decision of sending a text or making a phone call over risk in somebody's life the more that happens i think those habits get broken more and then do you think people take this seriously because like like i said before it there's eleven deaths every day due to it but yet ninety five percent of teenagers know that there's a problem yeah unfortunately generally when you see these sorts of things people really hits home with them once it's happened to somebody that they know  and what we're doing with our distracted driving campaign where we go to schools and we talk to people when we try to get this this information out there and this messaging through is to try to reach people before someone they know has passed away from something like this and the more and more we do it in the more attention that we bring to it in people like yourself take an active role in i think it can help and make the difference and hopefully save lives  being an attorney you've had to deal with many people and family members of loved ones of the last of these accidents how would you say these people normally reacting situations call it it's heartbreaking i mean it is absolutely heartbreaking t to to meet with somebody and talk to him after a loved one has died and to realize that it was avoidable it's something that that could have been prevented should have been prevented yet and it was because somebody was was in such a rush they put their own text head of the priority of someone else's life and the family goes through all the ranges of emotions so you would think they're distraught they're grieving they're angry and when you're meeting with them and you're trying to talk to them and trying to counsel them on what to do with the finances because the breadwinner of the family is gone you know what to do with things like insurance that they may no longer have or any of those things to try to explain that this was all caused because somebody couldn't wait to make a phone call it's one of the hardest parts of the job and has that been like your sort of motivation to help take down these issues is seeing those fail members just all torn apart has that helped you know yeah i think it's seeing those sorts of things and you know our our firm is is a personal injury firm and so we we deal with a lot of these on a day to day basis we see these sorts of horror stories and to realize that so many of these are preventable so many of these didn't have to lead to an accident it really is the motivation behind trying to reach out and help people before they make one of these mistakes and i know your firm's motto is doing good by doing right can you explain what that means sure yeah it's it's the motto by by which we try to operate as a firm and as individuals we are a member of the community i mean the people in this room or are neighbors or friends or family and when you see different issues like this where we have firsthand knowledge about how these happen why they happen it we feel like it's our duty and our responsibility to go out and try to help and work with the community to try to bring an end to this as much as we can and that's it's again why i just think it's fantastic what you're doing here and why i was so glad when when you contacted me to come down and do this i'll be happy to spend as much as my time as possible thank you you know doing these things t o if it can save one life and have you partially been affected outside of the job from any of these accidents you know i luckily have not been in a in an accident involving distracted driving but i certainly have had relatives that work and it leads to a whole different element when when they realize you're watching them struggle you're watching them grow you know not be able to get out of bed in the morning not being able to care for themselves and when you realize that was all because somebody was was sending the text and you're trying to counsel a relative on that and it's tough and it really hits home when when you see that sort thing would you say social media not only texting to social media has been on the rise over the past years how has that played a factor well i think i think that's why we are very diligent about sane it's not just it's not just phone calls it's anything that draws your attention away from the roadway and from driving and the biggest culprits of that is social media and you know texting and phone calls are a huge part but the ability to have all those different apps and all the different communication platforms right on your phone where people are stuck to in their clunky clinging to them at all times  that is a huge part of this and it's something that i think people need to recognize that that message can wait you know the vine video can wait yet so if if these situations keep happening would you say that the government could just put a ban on all self phones while driving well normally those things are state issues and so certain states have these certain states haven't they're there was a bill submitted in the pennsylvania general assembly last year regarding restricting this talking on a cell phone at least a handheld cell phone you know we'll see what comes of that  it's certainly something that the state governments can and should do is look at all the different ways that these laws can be tweaked to to make sure that that people are driving safely and what do you consider that infringement on someone's rights if and up preventing cell phones from being able to be used in cars no i consider a right to be the right to to live in this country i consider a right to have a family and prosper i don't consider it a right to have a cell phone and not have to wait ten minutes before making a phone call you know it's the government does that and  on a number of different areas you have to wear a seatbelt you know it's it's one of those things that i think with all of that depending on what the studies show depending on what people find i think they need to look at all of the avenues to do this safely and of course you know protect protect people's freedoms yes but but do it in a way that people are safe stricter laws you say would help so maybe keep having all cars convert to hands free so that way don't the text and drive with that help i mean that may be a good step i think like like everything else we've talked about yet i think the biggest part is the discussion in the awareness in my mind there is no need to convert all cars to any way unless you first had the discussion so people understand exactly how serious an issue it is and then how does this usually payoff and sort of the long drawn out payoff of how does this affect people in the long run not only the people the victims it happens to well i mean we've seen firsthand coal so many times i mean you get in accidents like this you're a victim in one of these crashes and it can alter your entire life yes i mean it affects it affects how how you can raise your kids it affects whether you can work whether you can go to school it affects your your ability to do day to day activities as simple as bathing yourself as simple as dressing yourself and you know it's really one second before the crash you were operating in a normal way i mean things in a normal manner of your life and a second later everything was  ruined and you were just not able to do anything you could before and that's that's something that was caused by somebody that that it didn't have to be it could have been avoided and what are some of the consequences like from a legal standpoint of the person that causes the crash well i think there's there's all sorts of those those legal consequences i mean it's as we discussed it you know texting while driving is  illegal in pennsylvania and somebody can certainly be pulled over and receive a fine for that but certainly if if you are doing something that is reckless and you injure somebody else you run the risk of facing serious criminal penalties and and you know we've seen it where were people died and the person that caused that faced very serious criminal penalties because of them and how o phones but apple watches now have been able to effect that you're able to just look at your wrist and textile how has that been affecting the issue well i think it's the same thing with with the advancement of technology the technology is going to keep advancing you know as you and i have spoken about before the rate at which ads advancing is crazy and that's going to keep happening the next the next gadget the next device the next program is going to come along and it's going to have the same effect that the previous ones had and so i think the important thing to remember is no matter what shape or form it takes the point is still the same if it's something that that you're looking so say so and does get pulled over but they so if what are some of the ways that it can affect the person's family i should say instead of just affecting the person and like the person that caused the crash the person across caused the crashes family yet well i  go up you you may be injured yourself but also that there is there is going to be a strain on everybody involved in your family as knowing that this was caused and it was your fault and that's that's not something that anybody wants to put anything only member through it so well i'd like to thank patrick booth for joining me on today's show to talk about this very serious topic in order to keep people from getting injured or killed in taxi and driving accidents please just put the phone down i can wait if we all work on solving this problem together we can start small and turn those eleven deaths a day to ten this concludes today's episode of the edge