Pasco County Injury Attorney Blog
Driver behavior is apparently the culprit behind the pain of driving on Ridge Road in Pasco County.
The issue? Texting. While stopped at the light, many drivers go right to their phones and don’t notice when the light turns green.
If three seconds go by without a car passing the sensor, the signal thinks there’s no more traffic, and the next red cycle starts.
There are two signals that are out of sync, according to Pasco County Traffic Management. Ridge at Regency and Ridge at Congress are not complete yet and are running on fixed time.This means there is no vehicle detection at the moment.
Officials are working on fixing the problem.
This problem brings up an issue that has plagued streets and highways across the country for a while – texting while driving. While this is an obvious dangerous thing to do, people continue to text while they drive. Studies suggest that texting lengthens driver’s reaction time by as much as 300 percent due to the fact that it takes eyes off the road. If you have ever had to hit the brakes at an intersection, you know how important reaction time is.
Please be aware that currently, Florida has the “Florida Ban on Texting While Driving” law which makes it a secondary offense. This means that a driver can only be issued a citation if they are stopped for another traffic offense, such as speeding or running a red light.
If you have been injured in an accident caused by a driver who was texting or otherwise distracted, you should contact a Pasco County Auto Accident Lawyer at Whittel & Melton at 727-847-2299 for a free initial consultation. We will help you with filing a claim and work to recover the compensation you need and deserve.