Distracted Driving Goes Beyond Cell

A Maryland-based attorney, Rick Jaklitsch has spent more than two decades leading the Jaklitsch Law Group. Through this firm, he defends the rights of people who are injured due to another person’s negligence. This includes distracted driving car accidents, which according to Rick Jaklitsch and his team, goes beyond cell phone distractions.

Distracted driving means that someone is not fully focused on the road when they are operating a vehicle. Since each driver must follow traffic laws and pay close attention to the road, a person who is distracted while driving is negligent.

While texting and talking on the phone is the most thought-of reason for distracted driving, people are also distracted if they are adjusting car features when driving, taking care of personal hygiene tasks, consuming food or drink, or dealing with navigation technology. Children are also a common distraction for drivers, as are pets and cigarettes or vapes.

Not all of these distractions are obvious to other drivers. This is why, if possible, people injured after an accident with a distracted driver should obtain video footage of the accident to prove that a distraction was present. Expert witness testimony can also help in a distracted driving case when video evidence is lacking.

Rail Crossing Accidents - A Declining

Rick Jaklitsch, an accomplished attorney in Maryland, leads The Jaklitsch Law Group. Through the firm, Rick Jaklitsch and his team take on various personal injury claims, including those involving rail crossing accidents.

Railroad crossing accidents are some of the more terrifying types of road accidents because the speed and severity of a train crashing into a passenger vehicle are more likely to result in traumatic injuries. Over the past few decades, these collisions have fortunately declined from 9,400 collisions in 1981 to around 2,200 in 2018. This has been thanks to public service announcements that warn drivers of the dangers of cross tracks when a train is there, along with technology upgrades on trains that notify conductors and engineers of upcoming crossings. Some trains even have automatic stop technology incorporated.

Unfortunately, this has not eliminated collisions between trains and passenger vehicles. Such accidents may occur in areas that lack upgraded technology. Or they happen with safety equipment fails, there isn’t visible road signage, and the train tracks aren’t cared for. Regardless of the reason, these accidents are the fault of either the drive or railway company, depending on the circumstances.

The railway company is usually at fault when accidents result from the conductor not operating the train correctly. They are also at fault, or a state or local agency is when the accident was caused by poor maintenance of the rail lines or lack of appropriate signage at the crossing. Meanwhile, drivers are at fault if they ignored the signage or if they pushed another vehicle onto the tracks from behind.