Despite its ban in 2009, texting while driving is still fairly common in California. In fact, the American Automobile Association (AAA) reports that incidences of texting behind the wheel actually increased since the ban. The AAA noted that four percent of all drivers in the state use their cellphones while driving, compared to the 1.5 percent before the ban was issued.

This can be taken as a worrying sign since texting-while-driving is one form of distracted driving, which is one of the major causes of car accidents in California. Nobody knows that better than a Sacramento car accident lawyer like those from the Carter Wolden Curtis Law Firm. They stress that even the simple act of reaching for the cellphone increases the risks of someone getting into a car crash.

According to textinganddrivingsafety.com, 23 percent of all car collisions in the country involved cellphones. Teens and young adults are identified as the ones most likely to commit the act, although 48 percent of all young drivers admitted to doing it because they saw their parents’ text behind the wheel as well. On the other hand, the AAA believes that this increase of reading/sending text messages behind the wheel can largely be attributed to California banning the handset-to-head cellphone use among drivers in 2008.

The 2008 ban is monitored by annual AAA roadside surveys. They concluded that the incidence of answering calls directly to the ear while driving has dropped by 57 percent since it was passed. Unfortunately, the texting ban is quite difficult to enforce simply because police officers have a hard time telling if a driver is using his or her cellphone while on the road.

This issue can be linked to the emergence of high-tech smartphones that make messaging easier to do, even while driving. People are simply confident that they can pull it off without getting caught because they can do it out of sight. In the unfortunate case of a car accident, these people simply speed away from the scene instead of staying to take responsibility.

Whether or not it is because of cellphone use, any vehicular accident warrants hiring a Sacramento car accident attorney. Since California still has difficulty enforcing the 2009 ban, texting-while-driving will continue to be one of the main causes of car accidents in the state.