NEW ORGANIZATION MAY PREVENT CAR ACCIDENTS

Group Attempts to Reduce Automobile Accidents Caused by Distracted Driving

FocusDriven-remember that name because you should start hearing more about them.

Yesterday, the United States Transportation Secretary and the president of the National Safety Council announced the creation of FocusDriven, the first nonprofit organization devoted to combating distracted driving and supporting victims of distracted drivers.

In 2008, 5,870 people were killed in police-reported car crashes, where at least one form of driver distraction was reported, accounting for 16 percent of all fatalities in crashes that year. And an estimated 515,000 people were injured in crashes, an estimated 21 percent of all injury crashes where driver distraction was reported. FocusDriven is trying to change this.

The group is modeled after the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving, except that it aims to stop people from driving while distracted.

Jennifer Smith leads the group. Her mother, Linda, was killed in 2008 by a young man who ran a red light and T-boned her car. He was going 40-45 mph, the posted speed limit, but talking on a cell phone.

Rob Reynolds, a father of five from Omaha, Neb., serves on FocusDriven's board of directors. He lost his eldest daughter, 16-year-old Cady, in a car accident when she drove her best friend home from a movie and was struck by another 16-year-old in an SUV who was distracted at the time. Cady died hours after the accident.

Shelley Forney, another director, lost her 9-year-old daughter, Erica, in 2008 when a woman driving a Ford Expedition looked down at her cell phone just before she struck Erica as she was riding her bike home from school. "What hurts most is knowing that this didn't have to happen," Fornery wrote in a press statement. This car accident was preventable.

Young people under 20 had the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal car crashes, accounting for 16 percent. The next largest group of distracted drivers was the 20- to 29-year-old age group, with 12 percent.

Click here to join FocusDriven or simply join the movement by not engaging in distraction while driving. Whether it is a cell phone, eating, talking with passengers, or other distractions, avoiding these distractions can avoid a car accident that could kills or seriously injure you or a loved one.

Drive safely and watch out for those who don't. For information about your legal rights after a Florida car accident, click here to schedule a free case consultation with Personal Injury Attorney Matthew Noyes. Attorney Noyes' Tampa Bay law firm-Perenich, Caulfield, Avril & Noyes, P.A.-has been caring for clients since 1955. With offices throughout Tampa Bay, Personal Injury Attorney Noyes can help you or your loved one.

For more articles that could save your life or the life of a loved one, read and post on Personal Injury Matthew Noyes' web blog, Noyes Legal News--Helpful Information About Florida Car Accidents and Workers' Compensation Claims.