Crashes from distracted driving rising
Father of teenager killed in possible texting crash seeks stronger penalties.
Steve Augello remembers feeling “angry as hell” when his daughter died in a crash he believes was caused by another driver’s texting. Now Augello has another reason to be upset: inaction by state lawmakers.
Records requested by The Palm Beach Post show crash reports listing distracted driving rose 10 percent in Florida in 2016. Injuries associated with texting rose 45 percent in Palm Beach County. Yet state legislators last month balked at strengthening what advocates call some of the lightest penalties in the nation for drivers using cellphones.
“They just don’t get it,” Augello said. “It drives me crazy the law is so weak.”
It was all the more crushing to learn his daughter Allie, 17, was not coming home because
Crash reports indicate distracted driving rose 10 percent in Florida to 110,544 in 2016 from 100,095 in 2015, including “unknown” distraction
Crash reports rose 9 percent in Palm Beach County to 8,755 from 8,064 for all forms of distracted driving
Injuries rose 3 percent to 3,202 in state crashes listed for electronic devices including cellphones
Injuries rose 9 percent to 223 in county crashes listed for electronic devices including cellphones
Injuries rose 6 percent to 126 in state crashes indicating texting Injuries rose 45 percent to 16 in county crashes indicating texting
in Augello’s view, “it was a totally avoidable accident.”
For Augello, the evidence was clear enough that the young female driver of a car that struck his daughter’s vehicle was texting on her cellphone, though that was never formally established after both drivers were killed in the Tampa area in 2008.
Crash reports indicating distracted driving climbed 10 percent in Florida, injuries in those accidents increased 16 percent to 78,723 and deaths rose 13 percent to 1,591 in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to preliminary statistics The Post requested from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
In Palm Beach County, crashes and injuries associated with distracted driving rose about 9 percent compared to 2015 and deaths increased by one to 106, records show.
“Our number of distracted driving injuries and deaths are rising and our laws are not getting any better,” said state Rep. Emily Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, whose bills to beef up penalties did not get far in the legislative session that ended in May. “None of my bills actually received a hearing.”
Florida is one of four states that don’t make texting while driving a primary offense. That means police have to stop a motorist for another reason, and a fine is $30, though Florida Highway Patrol officials say in Palm Beach County local add-on fees make it $116.
Other legislators told her they were not convinced toughening penalties for texting or other cellphone use has been proven to have a deterrent effect, Slosberg said.
Records show 110,544 notations in crash reports for distracted driving on Florida roads in 2016, up from 100,095 in 2015.
Distracted driving means events in which at least one driver was listed on the crash report with a distraction code, according to state records. That can involve using an electronic communications device such as