Driver Fatigue, Driver Distraction, DWI & Their Fatal Toll in Texas

Driver fatigue and driver distraction, particularly the distraction resulting from texting and cell phone use, are often fatal to innocent victims in Texas. The recognized dangers and costly toll from cell phone use have become so pervasive that Texas, like many states, has passed laws prescribing penalties against the use of hand-held devices in school zones. Discussion is underway of more wide-ranging penalties for driver distraction.

Some regulations exist to try to curb the problem of driver fatigue in commercial truck drivers. But non-commercial drivers face no regulations and no penalties.

As yet, few criminal penalties exist for driver fatigue and driver distraction, two conditions shown to be just as likely of causing a catastrophic injury or fatal accident as a DWI. Just recently, I read of a fatal two-truck crash that appears to result from either driver fatigue or driver distraction. The driver at fault suddenly drifted into oncoming traffic on State Highway 72 in Bee County, where he met an oncoming truck in a fatal collision. But the DPS trooper on the case said that the driver at fault for the fatal wreck would likely only receive a traffic ticket because drugs and alcohol weren't implicated in the fatal wreck.

Perhaps we need to recognize the inherent dangers posed by driver fatigue and driver distraction and enact stricter penalties. In the fatal Bee County wreck, family members of the deceased victim can still seek compensation for their loss through a civil wrongful death lawsuit. But if the driver at fault in uninsured or has no assets to speak of, they might receive nothing in recompenses for their tragic loss. And where is the sense of closure when all that the at-fault driver must face is a traffic ticket for causing the fatal wreck?

This Houston personal injury attorney wonders: when will we begin taking the problems of driver distraction and driver fatigue seriously enough to enact penalties that might prevent drivers from letting distraction and fatigue endanger other lives?